Full text of "Creative Computing Magazine (February 1984) Volume 10 Number 02"

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In This Issue

Evaluations & Profiles

•\ 4 ACT Apricot Anderson

An innovative, high quality machine

Oft Eagle PC-2 Ahl

w An IBM compatible with excellent software

40 SuperSprite And Arcade Board Arrants

An new way to do Apple Graphics

44 Ea,el Mackowiak

A system for artists

52 *PP |e Graphics Software Arrants

Five exciting new packages

£7 Growing Up Literate Staples

Key Lingo, WordWorx, and Watch Your Language

Articles

74 Microsoft Windows Ahl

23 manufacturers pledge support

PQ Byte Gallery Anderson

A portfolio of artists and microcomputers

fig An Editor At Appletest Ahl

Bushels of new products

1 "1 1 Report From The AMOA Games Show Uston

Will lasers save the coin-op industry?

1 28 The CB88te Cllnlc Libertine

Files, records, fields, and variables

The Cover: The top photo, by Glenn Entis. Pacific Data Images, was made with 3-D
animation software written at Pacific Data Images on a VAX 1 1-750 The middle
photo. Toroids over linoleum with shadows, was created by Stan Cohen of Advanced
Technology Systems The geometric donut shape was generated by a procedural
object program on a VAX 1 1-780 The image was generated by software written at
Advanced Technology Systems The bottom photo is by Lauretta Jones, a freelance
artist The image was created on an Apple computer

February, 1984
Volume 10, Number 2

03 V BPA

Creative Computing (ISSN 097-81 40) is published monthly by Ahl Computing.

Inc.. a subsidiary of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company David Ahl. President; Elizabeth

B Staples. Vice President. Selwyn Taubman. Treasurer. Bertram A Abrams.

Secretary P O Box 789-M Morristown. N J 07960 Second Class Postage paid at

Los Angeles. CA 90052 and additional mailing offices

Editorial offices located at 39 East Hanover Ave . Morris Plains. NJ 07950 Phone

(201)540-0445

Domestic Subscriptions: 12 issues $2497; 24 issues $43 97, 36 issues $5797

POSTMASTER send address changes to Creative Computing. PO Box 5214.

Boulder. CO 80321. Call 800-631-8112 toll-free (in New Jersey call 201-540-

0445) to order a subscription

Applications & Software

1 38 Audl ° Anlma,ton Multer

Synchronized sight and sound for Atari

1 42 Curva Design Rudeen

Blending parabolas on the TRS-80

1 48 Plotter Tutorial vande Panne

Part 3: Thinking in 3-D

1 65 s P ec,rum Shaw

A colorful look at graphics

1 74 How To Ge! Mo,ro From Your Computer Gardner

' ^ Patterns you can see through

1 89 Removin 9 Hidden Surfaces Rost

A simple algorithm for making better graphics

204 MSX Screen Graphics Ahl

A tutorial on the new standard

Departments

6 Notices Fee

6 A Note To Our Readers Staff

8 Benchmark Results Ahl

■1 Q Street Price Index Ahl

Who's selling what for how much?

Ahl

-|2 7 Years Ago

The way we were

210 No,ebook / portab, « Computing Machrone

Speeding up loop calculations in Basic

21 2 Prinl About Printers Ahl

The Strobe Model 260 and Laser PP40 plotters

222 Com P u,in F« The Handicapped Talmy

The Voice Input Module

226 Telocornm " ni cations Talk
Information utilities

232 Commodore's Port

The Portable 64 and comments on youth

240 ° u, p° s,: A,ari

^* v No frills software

248 IBM Images

Death, taxes, and the PCjr

Murphy

. Anderson
. Leyenberger
. Glinert-Cole

252 "N* 8 " 80 Strings Gray

Transportable 4. Color Scripsit. and Quikpro+Plus 2

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Staff

Founder/Editor-in-Chief

David H. Ahl

Editor

Managing Editor
Associate Editors

Editor-at-Large
Contributing Editors

Copy Editor
Editorial Assistants

Secretary

Elizabeth B. Staples

Peter Fee

John Anderson
Stephen Arrant*, jr.

Ken Uston

Dale Archibald
Charles Carpenter
Will Fastle
Susan Glinert-Cole
Danny Goodman
Stephen B. Gray
Glenn Hart
Stephen Kimmel
Art Leyenberger
Brian Murphy
Ted Nelson
Peter Payack
Alvin Tottler

Sherrie Van Tyle

Andrew Brill
Laura Gibbons

Diane Koncur

Art Director
Assistant Art Director
Artists

Typesetting

Patrick Calkins

Chris DeMilia

Diana Negri Rudio

Eugene Bicknell

Paul Krasner

Karen K. Brown

Advertising Director

Claude P. Sheer

Creative Computing Press

Laura Conboy

Branch Manager
Administrative Assistant
Operations Manager
Retail Marketing
Customer Service
Fulfillment

Shipping & Receiving

Jennifer H. Shaler

Joanne Saplo

Dan Nunziato

Susan DeMark

Renea Cole Cross

Frances Miskovich

Rosemary Bender

Linda Blank

Pat Champion

Elsie Graft

Linda McCatharn

Carol Vita

Jim Zecchin

Diane Moran

Barbara Carnegie

Lisa Dickisson

Maura Russell

Donna Stlefel

Cheryl Schauble

Valerie Gaddis

Ronald Antonaccio

Craig A. Brown

Richard Crawford

Michael lacangelo

William Sprouls

John Zlegenfuss

Advertising Sales

Advertising Director
Claude P. Sheer
Creative Computing
Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
One Park Avenue
New York. NY 10016
(212)725-3449

Advertising Coordinator

Ruth Darling

Creative Computing

Ziff-Davis Publishing Company

One Park Ave

New York. NY 10016

(212)725-3446

Northern California, Northwest

Jeff Miller

Ziff-Davis Publishing Company

3030 Bridgeway Blvd

Sausalito. CA 94965

(415)331-7133

Southern California. Southwest

Tom Whiteway

Ziff-Davis Publishing Company

3460 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles. CA 90010

(213)387-2100

New England

CEL Associates. Inc
27 Adams Street
Braintree. MA 02 184
(617)848-9306

Midwest

Jeff Edman

William Biff Fairclough

The Pattis Group

4761 W TouhyAve

Lincoln wood. IL 60646

(312)679-1100

Mld-Atlantlc

Larry Levine

Ziff-Davis Publishing Company

One Park Ave

New York. NY 10016

(212)725-7668

Southeast

Browning Publications
PO Box 8 1306
Atlanta. GA 30366
(404)455-3430

Canada

The Pattis Group
1623 YoungeSt
Toronto. Ontario M4T 241
(416)482-6288

Zitl Davis Consumer Computers * Electronics

Magazine Division
President: Larry Sporn
Vice President/

General Manager: Eileen G Markowitz
Vice President Marketing Jeff Hammond
Vice President Circulation: Carole Mandel
Creative Director: Peter J Blank

Permissions

Material in this publication may not be
reproduced in any form without permis-
sion. Requests for permission should be
directed to Bette Amado. Ziff-Davis Pub-
lishing Company. One Park Avenue. New
York. New York 10016.

Where To Send It

All editorial material, including article
submissions, press releases, and products
for evaluation should be sent to:

Creative Computing

39 E. Hanover Ave.

Morris Plains. NJ 07950
Correspondence regarding other Creative
Computing products and publications
should also be sent to the Morris Plains
address.

Correspondence related to advertising,
including ad copy, questions on billing, and
requests for rates, should be sent to:

Advertising Department

Creative Computing

Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.

One Park Ave.

New York. NY 10018

Correspondence regarding subscriptions,
including orders, changes of address, and
problems should be sent to:

Creative Computing

P.O. Box 5214

Boulder. CO 80321
Your help in choosing the correct address
for your correspondence is appreciated.
An incorrectly addressed letter or package
can take as long as several weeks to reach
its proper destination.

Subscriptions

All subscriptions orders and other corre-
spondence related to subscriptions
should be addressed to:

Creative Computing

P.O. Box 5214

Boulder. Colorado 80321 .
Foreign subscriptions must be accom-
panied by payment in U.S. currency.
Subscription prices:
U.S. Canada Foreign

1 year $24 97 1 year 29 97 1 year 34 97

2 years 43.97 2 years 53 97 2 years 63 97

3 years 57.97 3 years 72 97 3 years 87 97

Airmail delivery on foreign subscriptions
is available for a one-year period only at
$75.00 additional for mail to Asia and
Australia, and $50.00 additional for all
other foreign.

Subscribers in the United Kingdom
may send payment in sterling to:

Hazel Gordon

10 Bishops Way

Sutton Coldfield

West Midlands B74 4XU

Please allow at least eight weeks for
change of address. Include old address
as well as new— enclosing if possible an
address label from a recent issue.

Attention Authors

Creative Computing will not be responsible
for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, cas-
settes, floppy disks, program listings, etc not
submitted with a self -addressed, stamped
envelope.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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Notices

Kraft Contest For Kids

Kraft (the cheese company), challenges
youngsters 18 years and under to con-
ceptualize a "kideogame" designed to teach
children ages 3-8 about nutrition and good
health habits.

Entries will be received until March 31,
1984, and then judged by a panel of com-
puter experts (some of them children),
educators, and nutritionists. The winners
will be announced on May 1, 1984.

The Grand Prize is a trip to EPCOT
Center/Walt Disney World for the winner
and his/her family (up to four). Other
prizes include cash and gift certificates
for the purchase of computer equipment.

To receive the Official Rules and Regu-
lations, send in a self-addressed, stamped
#10 envelope to: The Kraft Kideo Game
Contest, P.O. Box 845. South Holland, IL
60473.

Reviewers Wanted
Writers, Too

Reviewers

Can you write clearly, concisely, and
with a flair? If so, have we got an offer for
you!

New products, particularly software
packages, are flooding our offices. So fast,
that we are having a tough time keeping
up with it all.

A similar situation occurred about two
years ago and we put a notice in the
magazine similar to this one. From the
over 6000 responses, we selected a few
reviewers, the reviews from whom you
have been reading since. However, several
of these people have changed jobs or

computers, so we again need reviewers.

Specifically, we need people who can
review software— business, educational,
personal, and entertainment— on a variety
of computers. Our greatest need is for
reviewers with the following systems: IBM
PC (or a clone), Apple, Atari, Commodore
64, Color Computer, TRS-80 Model 4.
DEC Rainbow, CP/M-86 and MS-DOS.

Since we pride ourselves on reviewing
products in a timely way, reviews must be
turned around in two weeks. In other
words, from the time you receive a product
from us, the review must arrive back here
in no more than 14 days. If you cannot
work within this time framework, please
do not volunteer.

The way the process works is that we
send you a software package (or several
similar packages) with an indication of
how long the review should be. You pre-
pare the review, software profile, and
screen photos (if possible) and mail them
to us. For your efforts, you get to keep
the software, and we pay you at our regular
rate.

Reviews must be typed, double spaced
(a dot matrix printer is okay). The software
profile must follow our standard format
and be on a separate page.

To apply, please send us a review of
any software package you wish (250 to
500 words for games; 1500 to 3000 words
for other programs) plus a software profile.
Also include your name, address, phone
number, computer (complete configur-
ation), type of software you feel qualified
to review (business, personal, educational,
entertainment), and whether you are able
to provide high quality screen photos
and/or screen prints (on a line printer).

Writers and Editors

We are also seeking someone to write a
regular column on business applications.
Like our machine-specific columns, this
would be one that would keep readers up
to date on new approaches in business
software (for example, icons, integrated
packages, tutorial software, and the like).
It should describe new products and gen-
erally keep our readers informed about
the latest advances in using small computers
for business applications.

The column might also include short
programs, tips for modifying commercial
packages, spreadsheet techniques, and hints
for using database packages.

In length, the column should run about
2000-3000 words per month. We may have
two people do this column on alternating
months: if you are interested, let us know
your preference.

If you would like to be considered for
business applications columnist, please
write a sample column and send it to us
along with your name, address, phone
number and brief description of your qual-
ifications.

The Garden State

If you would like to get more involved
with Creative Computing, let us hear from
you. From time to time we have openings
over a wide range of positions— proof-
reader, technical writer, associate editor,
editorial assistant. All of these positions
are located in Morris Plains, a charming
community about an hour west of New
York City.

If a career with Creative Computing
sounds interesting, send us a resume. We
will keep it on file and get in touch with
you when we have an opening that suits
your qualifications.

All responses to the above should be
directed to Diane Koncur. Creative Com-
puting, 39 E. Hanover Ave., Morris Plains,
NJ 07950.

Note To
Our Readers

Product evaluations in Creative Com-
puting are different from those in many
other magazines. Here's why.

A Creative Computing product eval-
uation is objective, thorough, and in-depth.
Normally, we get an actual production
product for testing— on loan or purchased
from the manufacturer. We do not ask
for or accept any special treatment, but
interact with the manufacturer as a normal
customer would.

In most cases, we test the product in

the environment and under the conditions
in which we would expect it to be used.
We do not believe that we should sit in an
ivory tower and pass judgment on a product
that is meant to be used by a salesman on
the road or a child in a classsroom.

When we evaluate a prototype, we state
that fact in the review. Even so, we do
not simply recite the manufacturer speci-

trentiue
computing
equipment
evaluation

fications: instead, we use the product,
apply our own tests, and report on the
results. If it lives up to the published specs,
fine; if not, we tell you.

In our evaluations, we call a spade a
spade and a lemon a lemon. Advertisers
do not receive special treatment — no one
does. Some manufacturers do not like
this policy and refuse to work with us or
advertise in the magazine. But most manu-
facturers welcome our policy of scrupulous
honesty, and for that, we applaud them.

Nevertheless, we are not right all of the
time. Sometimes, a unit might perform
well in our tests, but be a dog for you. For
that, we are sorry. But for the most part,
we trust you will find our reviews— and
the rest of the magazine — credible, honest.
and interesting. ^

February 1984 c Creative Computing

^.sl r'lllS^.^ji

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CAPTAIN

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TECMAR'S TOP OF THE LINE MULTIFUNCTION BOARD

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Performs eight (8) key functions in one (1) expansion slot.

• to 384K MEMORY - fully socketed for easy
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• CLOCK/CALENDAR • battery-powered to main-
tain date and time while computer is on or off.

• SERIAL PORT - to connect to modem or printer
with full IBM PC compatibility

• PARALLEL PORT ■ fully compatible for stan-
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• RAMSPOOLER SOFTWARE (included) • enables
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• SPEED DISK SOFTWARE (included) • simulates
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• AUTOTIME SOFTWARE (included) -
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• OPTION • inexpensive PAL chip enables user
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t0 »rsr

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• RAMSpooler tm Software

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BOSUN

BOSUN fits into a short slot in the IBM PC/XT.
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THE
NOW!

Creative Computing

Benchmark

The Creative Computing benchmark is
a short test of computational speed, ac-
curacy, and the random number generator
in Basic. Computers in the chart are listed
in ascending order of completion time of
the test expressed in minutes and seconds.
In the accuracy measure, the smaller the
number the better (.(XXXXXM is excellent
while .187805 is poor). In the randomness
measure, smaller is better (numbers under
IS are good and over 15 are fair).

Since running the short article about
the benchmark test, we have been over-
whelmed with responses from readers who
ran the test on machines not listed in our
original table. With letters still pouring
in, here are the results for 1 1 5 different
computers.

We have taken note of the criticisms of
this simple test and are in the process of
devising a more comprehensive one. Watch
for a follow-up article. - DH A 22

Computer Time

Cray 1 0:00.01

Amdahl 470 0:00.04

DEC System 10 0:00.18

DEC VAX 11/780 0:01
DEC VAX 11/780 (double) 0:015
HP 9845B (390 bit slice)0:O3
Control Data Cyber 730 0:03

HP 3000 Series 44 0:04

HP 9836 0:05

Wang 2200 SVP 0:05

Stearns Micro 0:08

Burroughs B20 0:09

Alpha Micro AM 100T 0:10

HP 9825 0:11

Burroughs B22 0:12

NEC Adv Pers Comp 0:12

Tektronix 4054 0:12

Olivetti M20 0:13
Saybrook 68000 (in Apple) 0:13

TI Professional 0:15

Compaq 0:15

HP 9845B 0: 15

Zenith Z-100 (8088) 0:17

Samurai S16 0:17

ACT Apricot 0: 18

Sharp PC-5000 0:18

Eagle PC-2 0:19

DEC Rainbow 100 0:20

Acorn BBC Computer 0:21

Columbia MPC 0:21

Computer Devices DOT 0:22

IBM PC 0:24

GCE Vectrex 0:33

Tl DS990/12 (Mini TS ) J: 36

Laser 2001 0:40

Memotech MX-512 0:46

HP 9020C 0:48

Lobo M«x-80 0:48

Lynx 0:51

TRS-80 Model 4 0:53

Panasonic JR20O 0:57

SCS 100 0:59

IMS 8000 0:59

Alspa AC1-1 0: 59

DECmate II 0:59

Xerox 820-11 0:59
Vector Graphic 3 VIP 1:04
Zenith Z-100 (8085) 1:04
Toshiba T100 1:09

Epson OX-10 1:09

Osborne Ol 1:10

Mattel Aquarius 1:17

Epson OX-10 1: 18

HP-85A 1:20

OSI Challenger IP 1:20
Morrow MD3 (Bazic 10) 1:21
HP-86A, B 1:25

Tektronix 4051 1:26

Aecuracv

Random

0000000014 6.1

00000000011846 12.4

00494385 8.9

0113525 5.3

000000000163283 5.3

00000882 23.1

00000000355 6.1

112549 12.9
000000000127329 5.5

000000076 3.9

,005859375 7.1
.005938744544977 3.2

00000387337 12.4

.00000882 9.1

.005859375 15.7

.005859375 7.2
.000000014042598 8.5

.0114136 6.2

.00000000011 10.4

.005859375 7.1

.00000882 2 3.1

.005859375 9.7

.01159668 6.3

.005859375 7.2

.0000128746033 5.2

.005859375 7.2

.005859375 7.1

.01159668 6.3

.0753174 0.9

.0000000388 3.1

.0003272295 17.4

.000252962112 6.9
.000000000127329 23.2

.0338745 5.8

.155 14.1

.0670776 6.5

.00021481514 15.1

.187805 7.4

.187805 9.6

.187805 7.4

.0338745 7.5

.187805 9.5

.187805 7.4

.187805 10.0

.187805 7.4

.00000002 14.3

.32959 5.5

.000473 3.6

.00000002 13.6
.000000014042598 8.1

Computer

Digital Group Bytemasterl : 27

NEC PC-8001A 1:29

Atari 800 (MBasic) 1:35

Kaypro II 1:36

Sony SMC-70 1:37

HP-75C 1:38
North Star Horizon(10 dig) 1:41

NEC PC-8201 1:44
MicroOffice RoadRunner 1:48

Teleram 3000 1:48

Apple III 1:48

Vic 20 1:49

Commodore SuperPET 1 : 50

HP 9830B 1:52

Commodore 64 1:53

Apple II plus 1:53

Apple He 1:53

NEC PC -8801 A 1:54

Rockwell Aim 65 1:56

Compucolor II 1:57

TRS-80 Model III 1:59

Micro Color Computer 1:59
Commodore CBM 8032, 2001 2:01

Heath/Zenith H-89A 2:04

Atari 2600 Graduate 2:15

TRS-80 Model I 2:19

Color Computer 2:23

Atari 800 (fastchip) 2:23

Dragon 32 2:29

Epson HX-20 2:36

DAI 2:38
Timex/Sinclair 1000 (fast) 2:43

Interact Model R 2:50

Wang 2210 2:52

OSI Challenger 1 3:07

SpectraVideo 318/328 3:40

TI 99/4A 3:46

Radio Shack PC-3 4:00

TI 99/4A, Extended 4:10

Oric-1 4:10

Datapoint 1800 4:16

Sinclair ZX81 4:23

Sinclair Spectrum 4:39

TRS-80 Model 100 4:54

Casio FP-200 5: OS
Sharp PC-1500 (RS PC-2) 5:10

Cromemco C-10 5:18

TI CC-40 5:41
Sanyo PHC-25 5:41

Canon X-07 6:03
Atari 1200XL 6:45

Atari 400/800 6:48

Sharp PC-1250 11:14
Timex/Sinclair 1000(slow) 16:55

IBM System 23 19:00

HP-97 23:00

Sharp PC-1211 28:32

10 ' Ahl's Sliple Benchmark

20 FOR N=l TO 100: A=N

30 KOR 1=1 TO 10

40 A=SQR(A): R=R+RND(1)

50 NEXT I

60 KOR 1=1 TO 10

70 A=A*2: R=R+RND(1)

80 NEXT 1

90 S=S+A: NEXT N

100 PRINT ABS(1010-S/5)

110 PRINT ABS(IOOO-R)

Time Accuracy Random

.000002779

.0338745

. 150879

.187805

.00000004 58

.00000002

.000473

. 187805

.187805

.011914

.0010414235

.000209331512

.00000889

.0010414235

. 187805

.00104141235

.0338745

.000596284867

.0010414235

J187805

.000224679708

.0338745

.000596284867

.006875

.000596284867

.0338745

.210266

.00041294098

.0338745

.000011432

.0010414235

.0000002058

.00000011

.00000627

.00000011

.00104141235

.0000012042

.0006685257

.0000002058

.00723

.0000288

.00000001

.00000011

.000267505646

.0000002058

.013959

.012959

.0000288

.00041294098

.00000005503

.000034

.00002882

3.6
3.0
2. 1

12.
11.

0.
30.

6.7

23.7

20.4

13.1

8.9

12.0

7.4

14.7

1.4

5.8

7.6

1.4

7.4

7.9

12.0

7.3

7.0

7.3

23.8

9.6

8.7

8.1

12.5

13.9

0.7

2.6

10.9

10.7

16.1
6.2

10.2

24.9
5.2

22.8
5.9
7.4
3.4

February 1984 Creative Computing

ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS.

A full line of top-quality floppies, in virtually e\ ttd S" model, fu compatibility with virtually every computer cm the market

mteed tc »u every industry standard certified 100% error-free and problem-free, and to maintain its aualtty for at least IZ mil

(or oxer a lifetime of heavy-duty /<

Contact Dennison Computer Supplies, Inc., 5$ Providence Highway, Norwood MA OZOtZ or call toll- free 1-800-343-8413.
In Massachusetts, call collect (617) 769-8150. Tele*

CIRCLE 120 ON READER SERVICE CARD

million passes

Street Price Index

The Creative Computing Street Price Index is an on-going monitor of
the average price levels of selected computers, peripherals, video games
and related accessories in the real-world marketplace. The list price is
the price set by the manufacturer for the product when it was first an-
nounced, and is not necessarily the current manufacturer list price.

As time goes on, this Index will be presented in graphical form, but
until there are six or seven data points, a graph would be of little value.

This Index is not intended to be a purchasing guide. Frequently, the

lowest price for a computer will be offered by a vendor who is going out
of business or closing out that particular item. Unless you are convinced
you will never need service or are skillful enough to repair an unhealthy
computer yourself, you would probably not want to buy a machine from
such an outlet.

Furthermore, most of our price monitoring is done in major metro-
politan areas on the two coasts. Prices outside of large cities and in the
central part of the country are usually higher.

Orig

Dec. 1983

List

Month

Year

Computer

Price

High

Low Average

Ago

Apple lie

1395

1149

1260

n/a

(64K, 40-col)

Atari 400, 16K

559

169

29(1)

159

352

Atari 800, 48K

999

399

179(1)

289

3 74

863

Atari 1200, 64K

899

679

249(1)

464

n/a

Commodore Vic-20

2 97

149

109

2 74

Commodore 64

599

2 99

179(1)

239

289

n/a

Osborne 1, 64K

1795

1295

800

1047

1390

1895

Radio Shack:

Color Comp, 16K 399

189

149

169

179

399

Model 4, 64K

999

799

899

999

n/a

TI 99/4A, 16K

635

149

100

167

299

Timex 1000, 2K

149

Average home com- 398
puter (up to 16K)

Line Printer

200

142

Average 80-col dot 697
matrix printer

Video Games

482

393

3 94

Atari 2600
Atari 5200
Colecovision
Intellivision II

Average video game 216

145

143

467

118

Dynamic Memory Chips (200 ns, guantity 8)

16K x 1 bit (4116)
64K x 1 bit (4164)

(1) Includes a manufacturer rebate or eguivalent

295

Epson FX-80

699

599

519

559

n/a

Epson MX-80FT

745

449

395

425

450

567

NEC PC-8023A

795

475

379

427

599

Okidata 82A

799

449

355

402

407

549

Okidata 92

699

559

439

500

524

n/a

Star Gemini 10

449

359

269

314

319

n/a

572

199

49(1)

149

269

200

118(1)

159

174

n/a

199

189

119

154

156

n/a

199

150

59(1)

105

110

189

169

. . .Lowest . .

1.95

1.50

1. 73

1.50 1.56

7.49

5.75

6.62

5.95 n/a

January 1984 ' Creative Computing

Meet Tom, Dick and Jeri.
Before they had SAVVY" they were

just like you.

Now you can teach your IBM or Apple personal computer that ... to err is human and
to forgive is SAVVY.

SAVVY is the most "forgiving" software ever developed for your IBM* PC, IBM XT, Apple lie* Apple II
Plus,* Apple-compatible or IBM-compatible personal computer.

SAVVY is totally integrated. Its a database building system, natural programming language, file manager

and operating system all in one.

SAVVY recognizes your plain-language commands. You can misspell, mistype, abbreviate, or rephrase

and still command your computer successfully and easily.

SAVVY IX ! "otters mainframe performance to business managers, professional
programmers and systems software developers who use the IBM PC or XT.

For Apple users there's SAVVY One": ideal for use at home or in the classroom,
SAVVY Pro": designed for professional program developers and Business SAVVY:
featuring easy-to-use applications such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, general
ledger, document writer and others.

Select the SAVVY that's right for you. Tom, Dick and Jeri have. Call 800-551-5199
(In New Mexico, 505-242-3333) to arrange your free demonstration of SAVVY at
your local computer store. For more information circle and
return the reader service card.

SAVVY is a product of Excalibur Technologies
Corporation, 800 Rio Grande Boulevard N.W.,
Mcrcado 21, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104.

Dealer Inquiries
Invited

SAVVY

a product of E\calibur

TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

SAW) is a ICMIlrrnl crjik:mjrk of K\< alttntr
IL-ihm»lf»EK-% ( -nr|M»rj(Min. SAW) One,
SUU ProandSAVVl K : arc iradcnurks
oi RxcafibwfcchnolqRpei < *ofponoon.

\ppk- is j rc uptered tr.uk.nurk of \\t\t\v

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■re uatk.-rn.irks ol \i>i)k CompUKI Inc. IHM

is j (t-psictctl tradernarti ">i Inter Mliontl
IkisiiK-ss Machines < !orporation.

CIRCLE 142 ON READER SERVICE CARD

7 Years Ago

In the Jan/Feb 1977 issue, we ran reviews
of two significant systems of the day, the
1MSAI NOKO and the SWTPC (SHOO. The
IMSAI was an S100 bus machine and had
big rocker switches on the front panel
instead of the mini toggle switches on the
Altair. It took us about 40 hours to assemble
the basic machine and six to eight hours
more for each board. Interestingly, it is
still in daily operation as a word proceMor
with a Qume Sprint 5 and Electric Pencil.

The Southwest Technical Products 6H00
was based on the Motorola 6H00. an ex-
cellent mpu, but one which just never
caught on. Construction time was shorter
1 16 hours) and the $395 price was low I for
1977). although it included only 2K of
memory.

We also reviewed the Teletype Model
43 terminal. This could have been a real
winner but for the fact that Teletype wasn't
interested in selling it to end users.

We announced the first West Coast
Computer Faire (4/15 to 4/17/77). the
winners from the 1976 National Student
Computer Fair (the last one ever held),
the solution of the four-color map problem
by Ken Appel and Wolfgang Haken. and
a new magazine. Kilobaud.

A fascinating article discussed a class
of problems in which complexity grows
exponentially and is believed incapable
of exact solution even on the fastest
computers.

This was our second "slick" issue and
advertisers nocked to our pages. We had
ads for the SWTPC 6800, Cromemco
joysticks (the first available. $95 each).
Ohio Scientific Challenger (6502-based with
IK. $439). Processor Technology Sol-20
(first self-contained computer. $995 for
kit version with IK), Altair 8800b. and
scores of books, boards, and other
items. -DHA

SAMS APE ESCAPE
BRINGS OUT THE ANIMAL IN YOU.

Introducing Sams APE ESCAPE, the fast-action
game that will have you scaling tall buildings, riding
balloons, avoiding hazards ana evading capture at
heights that would scare even King Kong.
The higher you climb, the faster the action. And with no
end to the buildings, there's no end to the fun! Play APE
ESCAPE alone or test your skill by trying to top someone else's
best score. Either way, it's sure to bring out the animal in you!
APE ESCAPE, for any Apple II "-compatible system.
No. 26166, $29.95.
Don't monkey around, buy APE ESCAPE today! Visit

CIRCLE 160 ON READER SERVICE CARD

your local Sams dealer. Or
call Operator 106 at 317-
298-5566 or 800-428 SAMS

Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc.

4300 West 62nd Street, RO. Box 7092
Indianapolis, IN 46206

m USA only Prices subtect to change without notice In
contort Imbfooi Electronics. Morkhom. Ontono 13R I H2
Apple II is o registered trademark of Apple Computer. Inc

THE BEST REASON FOR HAVING A HOME COMPUTER.

Your children. Thats why we created
the Early Games series for them. We're
educators as well as computer special-
ists. We create games that teach
children important skills.

There are five programs in the Early
Games series. Early Games for Young
Children is a set of nine entertaining
activities for children Z l k to 6. They
can work with numbers and letters and
create colorful pictures. Matchmaker
uses shapes, sizes, directions and
colors to help children develop reading

readiness skills. Children ages 5 to
12 can learn to play melodies with Early
Games Music Our Piece of Cake turns
math problems into, well, a piece of
cake. And Fraction Factory takes the
work out of fractions.

Early (Barnes feature multiple
activities, easy to use picture menus,
and colorful graphics. The games
are fun, children love to play them! That's
why they learn from them.

And they're the best reason for having
a home computer.

counterpoint software inc.

trentiue
computing
equipment
eualuation

A Good Look At The Future

ACT Apricot

John J. Anderson

The British are most definitely com-
ing. In last month's coverage of the Per-
sonal Computer World Show in London,
we reported as much. Machines such as
the BBC educational micro are destined
to have an impact not only in the United
Kingdom, but worldwide.

This very much includes the "States,"
as the Brits call us. While we have man-
aged to maintain a technological lead,
the British have had something of an
edge on the U.S., at the least in their
acceptance and interest in microcom-
puting for the last couple of years. That
has lately translated into a design edge
and has now begun to show in a new
generation of innovative entries that
compete quite well with American ma-
chines. And nowhere is that edge more
evident than in the Apricot from ACT.

Before we get into trouble with some
of our friends across the sea, let us clar-
ify: ACT (for Applied Computer Tech-
niques) is headquartered in Birmingham,
England, does its research and develop-

Chris Buckham of ACT, with the new
baby.

ment at Dudley in the Midlands, but
manufactures computers in Scotland. So
perhaps English would be a better term
than British to use in describing ACT.

ACT is the distributor of the Victor
9000, a machine that has had a limited

The Apricot is not just
another fruit.

impact on our shores, but has become
quite popular in the U.K. and on the
Continent as the Sirius 1 .

The Apricot is not just another fruit.
Its mass of features makes it a sure thing
to put a dent in the jaded U.S. market.

creative computing

HARDWARE PROFILE

Name: ACT Apricot

Type: Transportable business system

CPU: 16-bit 8086 5MHz

RAM: 2S6K, expandable to 768K.

Keyboard: 96 keys, full-stroke, fully

programmable
Text Resolution: 80 x 24
Graphics Resolution: 800 x 400 pixels.

Color/sound: Monochrome/TI

76489 sound chip, large

built-in speaker.
Ports: RS-232 serial, Centronics parallel.

At $3100, it sports a true 16-bit 8086
processor, clocked at 5MHz, and 256K
standard RAM, expandable to a whop-
ping 768 K. It makes use of dual state-of-
the-art Sony 3 l / 2 " microfloppy drives.
It runs MS-DOS 2.0, CP/M-86, and
Concurrent CP/M-86.

Its keyboard is unmatched by any ma-
chine on the market today. It includes a
ground-breaking 40-character two-line
LCD display, which can define a row of
special function keys below it, or be used
independently. The keyboard also fea-
tures a battery-powered internal clock/
calendar, the contents of which read out
on the LCD but can also be piped to the
CPU under MS-DOS. On deck for the
unit is an add-on internal autodial
modem, and co-processor capability.

Now picture this: all of these features

Dimensions: CPU 17* x 12" x 5";

CRT 11* x 10" x9";
Keyboard: 16" x 7" x 2"
Documentation: Excellent. Five

manuals.
Price: $3100 with dual, single-density

drives.
Summary: An innovative, high

quality machine, setting a new

standard in the "transportable"

category. LCD microscreen

capability is novel and useful.
Manufacturer:

ACT International

1 1 1 Hagley Rd.

Birmingham, B168LB England

021-454-8585

February 1984 c Creative Computing

IS THIS LEVEL OF RELIABILITY
REALLY NECESSARY?

ACCUTRACK

)\SKS

<&*

If you've ever lost data due to a
faulty disk, you know how impor-
tant reliability can be.

That's why Accutrack disks are
critically certified at 2-3 times the
error threshold of your system.
Why they're precision fabricated for
higher signal quality, longer life and
less head wear. And why we take-
such extra steps as testing single-
density mini disks at double-density
levels. So you don't have to worry
about the reliability of your media.

Accutrack disks. OEMs have
specified them for years. You can
trust them for your data. Call toll-
free (8(X) 225-8715) for your nearest
dealer.

PplACCUTRACK

l£l£j Dennison KYBE Corporation

82 Calvary Street. Waltham. Mass 02254
Tel. (617) 899-0012: Telex 940179
Outside Mass call toll free (800) 22&8715
Offices & representatives worldwide

CIRCLE 121 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Dealers: Give your customers a
choice— Accutrack's OEM perform
ance as well as your heavily adver-
tised brand. We have the industry's
only complete line of disks, cas-
settes and mag cards, including
virtually all special formats.
If you want a quality line, small
minimums, the ability to mix
and match, private labeling,
fast delivery and great price, call
today. Find out how responsive a
media supplier can be.

ACT Apricot, continued...

are packed into a case no bigger than an
attache. Unpacked, the unit CPU case
measures 17* x 12* x 5". Its CRT, with
pedestal, measures in at 11* x 10* x 9",
and when seated in place above the main
box, brings the total height to only IS*.
The tapered, detachable keyboard,
which clicks solidly into the bottom of
the main case for transport, measures
16" x 7" x 2" at its widest points. Pull
out the hidden handle, push down the
handsome shutter that protects the

The Apricot in attache mode.

microdrives, and you're ready to shove
off. The packed system weighs 17'/ 2 lbs.
in one hand, with the CRT 9 lbs. in the
other.

The Apricot is not labeled a portable
but rather a "transportable," as the CRT
for the unit is external, and you must be
near a power socket (mains, as the Brit-
ish say) to use the computer. Still, you
are getting a full-size display in the
trade-off, and for our money it is much
easier to carry a packed-up Apricot with
CRT than to lug around a Kay pro or
Compaq — and certainly more desirable.

Cosmetically, the Apricot is just about
the best looking micro you are apt to see.
At least two members of our art depart-
ment stopped dead in their tracks when
they saw the thing, and said "wow." The
Apricot is a knockout. It looks exactly
the way a next-generation microcom-
puter ought to look, and then some.
Everything about it signals "quality."
And its beauty is far more than skin
deep, as you shall see.

The Keyboard

One look at the detached keyboard
and you know you are on to something
special. It has 96 fully programmable
keys, and is laid out in the IBM-Selectric
style. It includes dedicated help, undo,
print, menu, and finish keys to make
life easier although each and every key
on the keyboard can be easily redefined.
The caps lock and stop keys are LED

illuminated to indicate their activation.
There is a full numeric keypad and
nearly directional cursor movement keys
(see photo). The angle of the keyboard is
not adjustable, but seems to be set at a
very acceptable rake.

The "feel" of the keyboard is ex-
cellent. It has a tight but full-travel ac-
tion and no bounce whatsoever. At first
we felt the keyboard was a bit spongy,
but we were pressing too hard. Upon let-
ting up a bit, we realized the keyboard
design accounts for all tastes. There is no
feeling of having "hit bottom" during a
keypress, so angry typists can vent their
frustrations without spraining fingers.
Hence the feeling of sponginess. At the
same time, feather-touch typists will no-
tice the keyboard response is fantas-
tically swift. By the time the key has
traveled a millimeter or so, the keypress
has registered.

The autorepeat start time, repeat rate,
and keyclick volume of the keyboard can
be simply controlled through software.
More about that up ahead.

Then there is the "microscreen." This
is a two-line, 40-character LCD display
on the upper righthand side of the key-
board. Upon power-up, it displays the
date and time (see photo). It is also used
to label six touch-sensitive function keys
just below it. Each function key has its
own LED, to indicate when it is ac-
tivated. One very nice use of this feature
is the ability to redefine these key labels
throughout the levels of a program. The
keys can change function without muss
or fuss, and remain clearly labeled at all
times. It takes more pressure to activate
the touch-sensitive keys, but this is
perhaps a desirable feature for the
special function keys — they cannot be
accidentally invoked.

Another feature of the microscreen is
the calculator mode. Press the calc key
in the top row of permanently assigned
function keys, and the LCD becomes a
full-blown calculator with memory. You
may perform all the operations you de-

One look at the

detached keyboard and

you know you are on

to something special.

sire, then return to whatever spot you
were in before you entered the cal-
culator. You can even send the results to
the current program. There is a percent
key, too, which is very handy.

As on the TRS-80 Model 100, the an-
gle of the LCD can be adjusted with a
thumbwheel on the righthand side of the
keyboard. This ensures that the display
will be legible from any conceivable pos-
ture. Next to the thumbwheel is a re-
cessed reset button. To prevent acci-
dents, it must be held in the depressed
position for one full second before the
Apricot resets.

When the unit is on and the keyboard
is plugged in, the LED dot on the "i" of
the Apricot logo is illuminated — very
stylish.

On the rear of the keyboard is a
mysterious DB-9 jack, which will soon
add mouse capability to the Apricot as
well. With its LCD-defined function
keys, the need for a mouse is question-
able, but thoughtfully, ACT has put the
capability there anyway. At press time,
they had not finalized their approach to
a pointer input peripheral.

The Disk Drives

When a company goes OEM for
drives, it has to keep quality and
availability in mind. To go OEM for a
new technology, such as microdrives,
the criteria become even more critical.
For ACT, the decision was obvious: the
Sony microdrive. Proven performance,
proven reliability, and proven availabil-
ity are hallmarks of the Sony name. The

The best keyboard we to ever seen or touched.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

VSP

HOW TO

UNSCRAMBLE
TOUR NEST EGG.

It doesn't take a computer to tell you
that money can't buy you happiness.

But at last there is a piece of per-
sonal computer software that will make
you a lot happier about your money.

And you're looking at it.

Making sense of
your dollars.

Dollars and Sense" is
designed to save you
money by organizing your
money. By giving you the clearest
picture you've ever had of your
financial behavior.

It can establish budgets along any
lines you like. Monthly or annually,
fixed or variable. On up to 120
accounts.

It can write checks, make transac-
tions automatically. Even remind you
to pay your bills.

And as time goes by, it tells you
exactly how you're doing. With a
complete set of reports and full-color

graphs* that come up on screen or print
out on paper. At the touch of a key.
And all you have to do is spend a
few minutes each week telling your
IBM* PC, Apple" II or He what came in
and what went out.

User friendly.
Really.

Dollars and Sense also
happens to be very easy
to use. For everyone
who uses it.
If you're a novice, at computing or
accounting or both, don't worry.

The interactive demonstration disk
will get you started. And the program
will keep you going. With sample
accounts, on-screen prompts and a
user's manual that's written in plain
English.

And one more thing. Dollars and
Sense is tax-deductible.

But only if you use it on
your taxes.

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CIRCLE 174 ON READER SERVICE CARD

ACT Apricot, continued...

new Sony 3'/ 2 ' drives are a look at the
future of disk storage. The drives sup-
plied with the unit we tested in the lab
were single-sided, limiting storage to a
mere 315K per drive. On deck for the
Apricot, are new double-sided drives,
which will more than double this
capacity, bringing the total disk storage
capacity to well over 1Mb.

The Sony drives are a joy. They are
noiseless but for a click when activated
and are very, very fast. We watched full-
blown hi-res screens load from disk in
under five seconds. Spring-loaded metal
shutters in the disks protect head access
holes from wandering thumbprints, and
as a recent innovation, are automatically
opened and reclosed within the drive.
The user need never (and should never)
see the magnetic medium itself. There is
no need for doors on the drives, and the
disks themselves can take a great deal of
abuse (see sidebar.)

Also in the on deck circle from ACT
is a 3'/ 2 " hard disk option, which will fit
in place of drive B. If the 10Mb offered

On/off switch

Keyboard
socket

Paralle printer
socket

Monitor
socket

Main

power

socket

Fuse
holder

Doorless microdrive.

Figure 1. The rear end.

by this option is still not enough for you,
you will have to look to external storage
methods.

The CPU And Environs

The computer inside the main case of
Apricot is on a single board, maximizing
reliability and ease of service when it is
needed. Built around the 8086 CPU, a
separate 8089 input/output processor
handles I/O operations to and from the
drives and the asynchronous link. Room
for an optional 8087 mathematics pro-
cessor is also available on the board, al-
though use of this add-on chip will
require software written specially for it.

The 8086 CPU is a twin to the 8088,
but has a true 16-bit bus, as opposed to
the 8-bit data bus of the 8088, as found
in the IBM PC. This speeds its bench-
mark, as shown up ahead. The advan-

The Great
Micro-Floppy Case

Of particular interest is the Sony
micro-floppy disk casing.

The rotating medium itself is very
well protected, so that the diskette is
much less prone to damage than 5 1 //
or 8" floppies. The disk cover is made
of rigid plastic which incorporates a

sliding aluminum cover to protect the
head window when the diskette is not
in use. The center hole is reinforced
with a heavy duty aluminum hub.

While these improvements result in
added cost to the disks, they totally
eliminate the need for disk sleeves,
and produce a much more durable
diskette overall. Spills, bending, and
cruel treatment during shipment pose
a minimal threat to micro-floppy
data.— JJA

tage of the 16-bit software approach has
yet to surface, but we remain patient. If
and when it does, the Apricot will
exhibit it.

For the purpose of comparison, we
ran the David H. Ahl Quickie Bench-
mark Test on the Apricot, as a measure
of CPU speed and accuracy from Basic
(for a full description of the test, see the
November issue of Creative Computing).
The Apricot scored in the top five ma-
chines tested as of this writing: the an-
swer came back in 17.6 seconds, with an
accuracy of 0.005859375, and a sum ran-
dom of 7.18416. Like EPA mileage
statistics, the benchmark should be
taken with a grain of salt. Still, the Apri-
cot outperformed many of its more-
touted rivals. For example, the IBM PC
took 24 seconds in the same test, return-
ing an accuracy of only 0.01 159668.

The Sony drives are a
joy. They are noiseless

but for a click when

activated and are very,

very fast.

Also on the CPU board are two
expansion slots. Whether these are going
to be enough for the serious user remains
to be seen. One will be taken in nearly all
cases by the modem card. The other will
in all probability have to lead to an ex-
ternal expansion box, if the user desires
the full 768K RAM and co-processor or
IEEE-488 capability. Third party hard-
ware manufacturers take note: the
expansion slots are fully documented
and just waiting for Apricot-compatible
goodies.

At the rear of the unit are sockets for
the power cable, keyboard, and monitor
(see Figure 1). In addition there are a
Centronics parallel printer port and an

February 1984 e Creative Computing

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UltraPlan — an advanced spreadsheet pro-
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A DISPLAY PERIPHERAL

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Other display attributes such as highlight/lowlight, inverse, and half-
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CIRCLE 178 ON READER SERVICE CARD

ACT Apricot, continued...

RS-232 serial port. The keyboard input
uses a male DB-9 plug, while the mon-
itor uses a female DB-9 socket, so there
is no way to hook up incorrectly. The
parallel port uses exactly the same jack
as those found on Centronics parallel
printers themselves — this is quickly be-
coming the de facto standard configura-
tion. The RS-232 plug is the standard
DB-2S male. These configurations make
hooking up the Apricot to external de-
vices as straightforward as possible.

The Display

The CRT for the Apricot is one of the
sleekest we have ever seen. It tilts and
swivels, and can be moved across the
width of a shallow groove in the top of
the main box. This allows the display
to be positioned extremely flexibly.

CRT displays the Manager.

Although the display is only 9* mea-
sured diagonally, it provides crisp, clear,
easy-to-read characters and very service-
able hi-res capability. It has a non-reflec-
tive green-screen coating, and a resolu-
tion of up to 800 x 400 pixels. The only
necessary external control is a brightness
knob.

As far as we are concerned, the CRT
arrangement of the Apricot is much
preferable to an internal monitor of
smaller size, such as is found on the
Kaypro. An indented handle makes
carrying the CRT as convenient as pos-
sible, though in most cases it would
probably be boxed for transport. An-
other possibility would be to have a
CRT at each location the Apricot is to
be used, such as at work and at home.
Then the Apricot, sans CRT, would
truly qualify as a portable.

The custom CRT plugs only into the
Apricot, from which it receives not only
a video signal but its power supply. This
makes cabling a breeze, but pre-empts
the possibility of hook-up to con-
ventional, and less expensive, monitors.
Extra Apricot CRTs cost about $300
each.

Modus Operandi

The decision to supply fully three
operating systems with the Apricot is
another good example of ACT's savvy in

The CRT for the

Apricot is one of the

sleekest we have

ever seen.

positioning its machine, and should not
be overlooked when assessing the total
cost of the system. The flexibility of the
Apricot is unbeatable on this score: the
user may choose CP/M-86, Concurrent
CP/M-86, or MS-DOS 2.0 to operate
the machine. Each system has its own
advantages, and the ability to pick and
choose between them allows the user to
skirt the disadvantages of each.

Digital Research CP/M-86 is a fine
operating system, proven over time and
offering a vast array of software.
Concurrent CP/M-86, also from Digital
Research, enhances the versatility of
plain old CP/M-86, and offers the
capability of multi-tasking, wherein
more than one program may be executed
simultaneously.

Using Concurrent CP/M-86, you can
create up to four "virtual consoles."
These are channels that you can switch
between, just like channels on a TV. You
may perform word processing on channel

0, while running a spreadsheet on channel

1, a database on channel 2, and a tele-
communications program on channel 3.
Multi-tasking is necessarily memory in-
tensive and, therefore, most powerful
under the maximum RAM configuration.

In the buffered mode, characters gen-
erated within a running program are
saved to a temporary disk file during
switching between consoles. When you
return to the original console, the saved
file is re-established within it. In this
manner you may let one program turn
out pages of text while you work on
another project, then return to see how
the first program is doing whenever
you like.

Concurrent CP/M-86 also supports
passwords, user numbers, and file attri-
butes, which are not supported by
CP/M-86. Additionally, Apricot
Concurrent supports date- and time-
stamping of files from the internal
clock/calendar, and several other com-
mands which combine to make CP/M-
86 more powerful and easier to use.
There is even a windowing capability a
la Lisa, but we must be careful about
comparing Apples with Apricots.

Then there is MS-DOS 2.0, which of-
fers some very provocative potentials.
First off, and very importantly, it is fully
compatible with MS-DOS as it appears
on the IBM-PC: using the serial port

and telecommunications drivers on each
end, programs can be downloaded di-
rectly from the PC. Then, using a sup-
plied IBM emulator program, they can
be run on the Apricot (let us pause to re-
flect that commission of such trans-
mission might infringe on copyright
laws). In the U.S. later this year we may
see a 5'/ 4 " outboard add-on disk drive
that reads IBM disks. We have stressed
to ACT the advisability of such a periph-
eral, at least on this side of the Atlantic.

The Manager

But there is much more than IBM-
compatibility to the advantage of Apri-
cot MS-DOS as an operating system.
Foremost of these is the Manager, a
beautifully designed user interface pro-
gram that makes working with the Apri-
cot easy for even the utter novice. If you
so desire, you need never face MS-DOS
to use it — just use the Manager to get
where you are going.

Upon power-up, the Apricot runs a
self-test, the microscreen reads out date
and time, and the CRT indicates readi-
ness for insertion of a disk. When you in-
sert the system master, the Manager
module autoruns. It provides a hand-
some and easy-to-use menu of the pro-
grams available (see photo). The micro-
screen function keys will be activated,
making selection of the desired program
as simple as a single, clearly labeled key-
stroke. Alternatively, you can use the
cursor keys to move through the menu,
then hit the return key when your
choice is highlighted. And if you had a
mouse, you could use it to choose your
selection.

As you move the cursor horizontally
through the five possible "ladders" of
the menu, that bank of choices automati-
cally appears on the microscreen, and
the function keys automatically toggle to
reflect the new set of choices. At the
same time, a brief help note describing
the nature of each program appears at
the bottom of the main display as its
name is highlighted.

If more detailed helps are needed,
they are available all along the way.
Help can be chosen from the lefthand
ladder at any menu point along a de-
cision-tree, or the help key itself can be
pressed. In this way more information
can be called up without (horrors!)
reference to documentation.

Backing out of any selection along the
trees and subtrees of the Manager re-
turns you to the previous step. Although
this can become tedious during complex
operations, it ensures that you will never
lose track of just where you are. The
Manager has an index which can hold
up to 29 programs plus the Tools
program, which allows for easy execution
of housekeeping chores.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

V.M 3 *

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Dodge the radioactive
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fight your way up the nine
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Available for:
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ACT Apricot, continued...

The programs you wish to hold in an
index must be assigned using one of the
utilities of the toolkit, along with a single
sentence help description you provide.
Adding, deleting, or changing the index
of the Manager, is extremely simple, us-
ing the option utility.

If an attempt is made to execute a pro-
gram that is in the index but not on the
same disk as the Manager a prompt asks
you to insert the correct disk. Then press
the spacebar, and if present, the desired
program will load.

You may wish to bypass the Manager
shell and interact directly with MS-
DOS. Simply choose the finish option
from the main menu, and the all-too-
familiar > A prompt comes right up on
the screen. Purists relax: the Manager in
no way obscures MS-DOS from those
who choose to access it directly. We
can't imagine, however, even the most
seasoned user rejecting the convenience
of the Manager program for routine ac-
cess to the powers of the Apricot.

You may wish to
bypass the Manager

shell and interact
directly with MS-DOS.

Other Configurator utilities available
from the Tool module or directly from
MS-DOS are the following:

• Disk, which allows the setting up
and erasure of directories and supported
subdirectories; copying, renaming, veri-
fying, and deletion of files, formatting
and back-up of disks.

• Alter, which allows on-the-fly con-

figuration of the serial port, on-the-fly
selection of serial and parallel output,
and setting the date and time on the
clock.

• Tailor, which allows for the editing
and entry of foreign characters and spe-
cial fonts, programming of the keyboard,
entry of a custom logo to replace the
"Apricot" banner on the upper right-
hand side of the main display, and
modification of the Manager.

• Setup, which allows keyclick and
bell volume adjustment, keypress auto-
repeat and delay-rate adjustment, cus-
tomization of LCD default display, and
customization of system defaults.

• Miscreen, which allows the micro-
screen to be programmed.

• Spooler, which allows files to be
queued to a printer while the Apricot
moves on to another task.

Special fonts, logos, keyboard configu-
rations, disk and overall system defaults
may all be saved as disk files and re-
trieved when and where necessary. Most
of the programs for creating these use
ladder-based menus as does the Man-
ager, and are quite painless to use. The
font, logo, and keyboard editors, for
example, are totally self-prompting, and
make customization much easier than on
any other system we have seen. Settings
of keyclick and bell are aided by
barcharts graphing volume. Everywhere,
it seems, care has been exercised to make
Apricot housekeeping as easy as possible
on the user.

This capability comes at a price, how-
ever. When MS-DOS is invoked on a
256K system, free RAM memory is
chopped in half to 128K. A 48K chunk
of RAM is, however, enclosed in the
BIOS (Basic Input/Output Section) to
hold special fonts, bit-mapped screen
RAM, or even act as a file buffer — like a

Er. George, do you remember how all those big. bulky computers were replaced by smaller,
sleeker, more efficient models?

The folks at ACT

acknowledge that the

choice of a word

processor is an

extremely personal

one.

miniature RAM-disk. As programmers
learn to use this feature, it will become
more significant.

So don't hold your breath for Concur-
rent Apricot MS-DOS — we guess you
would need 512K just to get off the
ground with such an option. You are
free to dream, however. And from what
we have seen already, who knows what
these folks are capable of.

Bundled Software

For the base sticker price of the Apri-
cot, these three operating systems might
have been enough, but ACT has not
stopped there. On the disks supplied
with the unit (in a cute snap-pocket
case), you also gel the GSX Graphics
System from Digital Research, which al-
lows transportability of graphics stan-
dards across CP/M, Concurrent, and,
believe it or not, MS-DOS. You get two
versions of Basic, from Microsoft and
Digital Research (the DR package,
called Personal Basic, was not available
at the time of this evaluation). You
get SuperCalc and SuperPlanner, from
Sorcim, which are the familiar spread-
sheet package and a new address book/
calendar planning package, respectively.

What, no word processor? Well, in a
word, no. The folks at ACT acknowl-
edge that the choice of a word processor
is an extremely personal one and we
agree. For that reason, no word proces-
sor is bundled with the Apricot.
WordStar was supplied with our test
unit and behaved perfectly well (though
it is tough to use the word perfect so
near the word Wordstar). We are sure
that more choices will be available soon.

ACT has announced that it will be
releasing a bevy of business software, ini-
tially from its Pulsar line, in Apricot
microfloppy format. It has announced
Fortran, Pascal, and a Macro86 assem-
bler. We took a quick look at run-time
Cobol, and like WordStar, it did run.
What more can you say about Cobol?

Anyone with access to a Victor 9000
or Sirius computer should know that the
Apricot is Sirius-compatible as well, via
the asynchronous port. Software down-
loaded in this manner will run without
any problem. The only ramifications to
the process are legal, not technical.

February 1984 l Creative Computing

OUR LIMES ARE HELPING

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COMMUNICATE!

The Lime is a surge protector
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Surges are fluctuations on the
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With EP
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s Inc.

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"lllir ""W" Your computer's telephone.

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Wouldn't it be great if you could
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Its possible. All you need is a
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Hayes Smartmodem. Think of it as
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Smartmodem 300.™ and the faster
Smartmodem 1200.™ allow you to com-
municate over ordinary phone lines.

But any modem will send and
receive data. Smartmodems also

dial, answer and disconnect calls.
Automatically. And without going
through the telephone receiver,
making them far superior to acoustic
coupler modems.

Choose your speed; choose your
price. The lower-priced Smartmodem
300 is ideal for local data swaps and
communicates at 300 bps. For longer
distance and larger volumes. Smart-
modem 1200 operates at baud rates
of 300 or 1200. with a built-in selector
that automatically detects transmis-
sion speeds.

Both work with rotary dials.
Touch-Tone® and key-set
systems; connect to most time-
sharing systems; and feature
an audio speaker

Smartmodem 1200B™ is also avail-
able as a plug-in board. Developed
specifically for the PC. it
comes packaged with Hayes
own communications soft-
ware. Smartcom II™

Smartcom II. We spent
a lot of time developing it. so
you can spend less time using it
Smartcom II prompts you in the

simple steps required to create,
send, receive, display, list, name and
re-name files. It even receives data
completely unattended— especially
helpful when you're sending work
from home to the office, or vice versa.
If you need it, there's always "help"
This feature explains prompts, mes-
sages, etc. to make communicating
extra easy.

With Smartcom II. it is. Case in
point: Before you communicate with
another system, you need to "set up"
your computer to match the way the
remote system transmits data. With
Smartcom II, you do this only once.
After that, parameters for 25 dif-
ferent remote systems are stored in
a directory on Smartcom II.

Calling or answering a system listed
in the directory requires just a few

quick keystrokes.

You can store
lengthy log-on
sequences the
same way. Press
one key. and Smartcom II automati-
cally connects you to a utility or infor-
mation service.

GD Hayes

Smartmodem )00. 1200 and !200Bare FCC approved In
the U.S. and DOC approved in Canada. All require an
IBM PC with minimum 96R bytes of memory: IBM DOS
1 10 or 100 one disk drive: and SO -column display

Smartmodem 1200B. (Includes telephone cable. No
serial card or separate power source is needed .)

Smartcom II communications software.

NOTE: Smartmodem 1 200B may also be installed in the
IBM Personal Computer XT or the Expansion Unit

In those units, another board installed in the slot to
the immediate right of the Smartmodem 1 200B may not
cleat the modem: also, the brackets may not fit properly
If this occurs, the slot to the right of the modem should
be left empty

And. in addition to the IBM PC.
Smartcom II is also available for
the DEC Rainbow™ 100. Xerox
820-11™ and Kaypro II™ personal
computers.

Backed by the experience and
reputation of Hayes. A solid
leader in the rnicrocomputer in-
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documentation for all products. A
limited two-year warranty on all
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So see him today. Break out of
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personal computer. From Hayes.

Hayes Microcomputer Products.
Inc.. 5923 Peachtree Industrial
Blvd.. Norcross. GA 30092.
404/441-1617.

Smartmodem 100 Smartmodem 1200 Smartmodem 1200B
and Smartcom II are trademarks of Hayes Microcomputer
Products Inc IBM is a registered trademark of Interna
tional Business Machines Corp TouchToneisa
registered service mark of American Telephone and
Telegraph Rainbow is a trademark of Digital Equipment
Corporation Xerox B20 II is a trademark of Xerox
Corporation Kaypro II is a registered trademark of
Non Linear Systems Inc
© 1 983 Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc

CIRCLE 131 ON READER SERVICE CARD

ACT Apricot, continued...

K*3

Please keep your seatbelt fastened during unpacking.

The Documentation

The documentation accompanying the
Apricot is superlative. It consists of five
manuals: an Owner's Handbook, with
general instructions and an introduction
to the Manager; a Configurator Guide,
documenting the many utility programs
available; a CP/M and Concurrent
User's guide; an MS-DOS User's Guide;
and a SuperCalc/SuperPlanner manual.

The operating system manuals are
based on the original documentation
from Digital Research and Microsoft,
and are quite readable. The MS-DOS
guide is indexed, while the CP/M guide

The Apricot was an
open-and-shut case of
love at first sight— and
lasting, true love upon

further inspection.

is not. The owner's handbook is a very
general introduction, designed to prime
the user without intimidation for what is
to come. It is nicely indexed and in-
cludes a very helpful glossary. The
Configurator Guide is one of the most
important pieces of documentation in
the package, and is quite clear, though
unindexed, and a bit terse at times. The
SuperCalc/SuperPlanner manual we re-
ceived had no documentation concern-
ing SuperPlanner — just a page outlining
the functional structure of the program,
and indicating that "information about
this product is currently under produc-
tion." We trust this will be remedied by
the time you read this.

In total, the job documenting this new
machine has been exceptional. Though it
is generally accepted that English En-
glish and American English are two dif-
ferent languages, the documentation has
not been rewritten for its U.S. debut, and
save for minor problems, it does not suf-
fer for it. An example of the severity of
the situation: "If you think of Basic as a
'family saloon' programming language,
then C is a 'sports car' language." A

family saloon? Not even in Dodge City,
guys. Full stop.

One of the biggest kicks we got out of
the documentation was the international
unpacking instruction card. It is an over-
sized fold-out pictorial and has been
drawn by the same person who draws
the escape instructions for passenger air-
planes. It breaks the Apricot unpacking
procedure into IS easy steps, not count-
ing inflation of your life jacket. For all
its amusement, it does provide a guide
for the petrified. Next to having your
machine unpacked by a stewardess, it is
unparalleled in its helpfulness.

The Bottom Line

The Apricot was an open-and-shut
case of love at first sight — and lasting,
true love upon further inspection. From
the outset, however, we felt it was a bit
pricey. At $3100, other options may
beckon, clouding the issue. After thor-
oughly putting it through its paces, how-
ever, we changed our tune. The Apricot
offers a great deal of value for the cost,
considering the quality of its keyboard,
drives, CRT, circuit design, and bundled
software. It is truly a gem of a system.

Still, if it were to come down a thou-
sand dollars or so, it might do more than
just enchant us, and give us a good look
at the future of the transportable mar-
ket. It might just turn the whole U.S.
micro market on its ear. We're keeping
our fingers crossed. fjj?

70*-

" There's plenty of food in the refrigerator,
...we have videotapes, cable, and if you get
bored, there's always the microcomputer. "

YOU'LL BUY LOTS OF SPINNAKER GAMES.

And not just because they're educational, but also because they happen
to be a lot of fun to play.

In fact, they're so much fun. parents have been known to sneak in a
few hours of play when the kids are asleep.

After all. if your kids are actually enjoying a learning game, there must
be something to it. And there is: Fun. excitement and real educational
value. That's what sets Spinnaker games apart from all the rest. And
what brings parents back for more.

We offer a wide range of learning games for a wide range of age groups:
3 to 14. One look at these two pages will show you how we carefully
designed our line of learning games to grow right along with your child.

So if you're looking for a line of learning games that are as much fun to
play as they are to buy. consider Spinnaker Games. They're compatible
with Apple. Atari. IBM PC. PCjr. Commodore 64. Coleco Adam and parents
who don't mind their kids having fun while they learn.

It's newl KIDWRITER™ lets kids
make their own storybook.
Ages 6 to 10.

KIDWRITER gives children a
unique new format for creating
theirown stories. With KIDWRITER.
kids make colorful scenes, then
add theirown story lines. It's as
versatile and exciting as your
child's imagination!

Best of all. while it encourages
children to create word and pic-
ture stories, it also introduces
them to the fundamentals of
word processing. KIDWRITER
will bring out the storyteller in
your children— and in youl

A trip through ALPHABET ZOO.™
Ages 3 to 8.

It's a race. It's a chase. It's
Alphabet Zoo. a game that sends
your kids zipping through the
maze, after letters that fit the
picture on the screen.

Your kids will have fun learning
the relationship of letters and
sounds, and sharpening their
spelling skills. They'll be laughing
at every turn.

Apple and Atin are registered trademarks of Apple Computer. Inc and Attn. Inc respectively IBM PC and PCjr. Commodore 64 and Coleco Adam at* trademarks of International Business Machines Corp . Com,
Electronics Ltd and Coleco Industries respectively 1 1984. Spinnaker Software Corp All rights reserved

RENTS, YOU WON'T
PINNAKER GAME.

FRACTION FEVER™ brings
fractions into play.
Ages 7 to Adult.

FRACTION FEVER is a fast-paced
arcade game that challenges a
child's understanding of fractions.
As kids race across the screen in
search of the assigned fraction,
they're actually learning what a
fraction is and about relationships
between fractions.

All in all. FRACTION FEVER
encourages kids to learn as much
as they can about fractions— just
for the fun of it!

DELTA DRAWING.™ Have fun
creating pictures and computer
programs.
Ages 4 to Adult.

Kids love to draw And DELTA
DRAWING Learning Program lets
them enjoy creative drawing and
coloring while they learn com-
puter programming concepts.

With DELTA DRAWING, even
kids who have never used a com-
puter before can learn to write
programs and build an under-
standing of procedural thinking.
It's easy, clear, and lots of fun!

PACEMAKER™ makes faces fun.
Ages 3 to 8.

FACEMAKER lets children
create their own funny faces on
the screen, then make them do
all kinds of neat things: wink,
smile, wiggle their ears, and more.

Plus. FACEMAKER helps famil-
iarize children with such com-
puter fundamentals as menus,
cursors, simple programs, and
graphics. FACEMAKER won't
make parents frown because their
children will have fun making
friends with the computer.

S£>//YMIA£fr

We make learning fun.

r -.J?-? 1 " i? 1 App,e ' Atan - IBM K and PCjr. Commodore 64
Crtrid 9 « for: Atan. IBM PCjr. Commodore 64. Coleco Adam

An IBM compatible system with plenty of power, flexibility,
and a useful selection of
bundled software.

native

tomputing
equipment
evaluation

The Eagle PC-2 consists of
a detachable keyboard,
systems unit with two
low-profile disk drives,
monochrome monitor,
software and
documentation.

The Eagle PC is a versatile and
powerful small business computer sys-
tem. As its name implies, it is an IBM
PC compatible system, but it is much
more. Bundled with it are MS-DOS and
CP/M-86 as well as word processing
and spreadsheet software.

The Eagle PC is available in four
configurations ranging from a 64K un-
bundled system to a top-of-the-line ver-
sion with a 10Mb hard disk. We tested
the PC-2, the configuration we judge will
be the choice of most users. It has 128K
of RAM, two floppy disk drives, mono-
chrome monitor, MS-DOS, CP/M-86,
EagleWriter, and EagleCalc. List price is
$3495.

Physically, the system consists of a
system unit with low profile floppy disk
drives, detachable keyboard, and mon-
itor. The documentation and software
are contained in one three-inch thick,
three-ring binder. The hardware compo-
nents are finished in a handsome light
and dark gray color scheme.

Setup and installation are straight-
forward and simple. The coiled cable on
the keyboard plugs into the back of the
system unit. The power cord and video

i-.pp.ahi ve COIR

David H. AMI

cable from the monitor also plug into the
system unit, and that's it. When it is not
in use, the keyboard slides into a key-
board encasement under the system unit,
thus giving it a space-saving footprint.

Detachable Keyboard

The keyboard is a sculpted unit which
attaches to the system unit with a coiled
cable which has a reach of four feet.
Thus it is suitable for desktop or lap
operation.

The keyboard contains 105 full-stroke
keys. The standard alphanumeric keys
and numeric keypad are white; the
remaining keys are dark gray.

The keys are arranged in a more-or-
less standard pattern — certainly more
standard than the IBM PC. A nice touch
is the separate shift lock (acts like a stan-
dard typewriter) and alpha lock (shifts
only letters — very handy for word
processing).

Special keys include the expected es-
cape, CONTROL, ALT, INSERT, DELETE,

creative computing

HARDWARE PROFILE
Product: Eagle PC-2
Type: Small business computer
CPU: 16-bit 8088
Ram: 128K. 512K maximum
Keyboard: Detached, 105 keys
Text resolution: 25 lines x 80 characters
Graphics resolution: 320 x 200 pixels

with optional color board
Ports: Two RS-232 serial, Centronics

parallel
Disk drives: Two double sided, double

density, 5 1/4" drives, 320K each

Software: MS-DOS, CP/M, EagleCalc,
EagleWriter included

Documentation: User's guide, and
manuals for each software package

Price: Bundled system $3495

Summary: An IBM compatible system

with many extras and excellent

bundled software.

Manufacturer:

Eagle Computer
983 University Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
(408) 395-5005

February 1984 c Creative Computing

STARTS

game home and watcn your cniia piay,
you'll know the excitement of a winning
choice.

Active Family

Your family and CAI's growing family of
animated, full-color programs have a lot to
share —beginning with a willingness to
reach beyond the ordinary to achieve the
best.

At Your Command
You may meet a princess, a juggler or a
dragon in Wizard of Words™ You may
appear as a guest on TV in Master Match,™
The Game Show™ or Tic Tac Show.™ Or,
you may extend these programs still further
with our LearningWare™ diskettes, offering
hundreds of questions matched to the
teaching strategies in the games. In every
case, CAI puts a world of imagination and
learning at your fingertips. And puts you
and your child in control.
Unique Approach

Key features place CAI thinking tools in a
class by themselves: Each program comes
with its awnlibrary of subjects. But that's
just the start. Our unique authoring system
let's you or your child create your own
lessons on any topic, tailoring the program
to your family's needs —and no computer
knowledge is required. Add the fact that
weVe kept the vital ingredient -FUN- in
learning, and our proven success is no
surprise. Over 2,000 school districts now
use CAI programs to teach essential
vocabulary and logic skills in a variety of
subject areas.

CAI supports its products —and you —with
an unconditional guarantee and a free
backup disk. And provides compatibility
with the most popular computers: Apple,®
IBM® (and soon Commodore™).
Wise Choice

CAI is a group of experienced educators
and programmers who believe that success
begins with opportunities you create at
home. Ask to see a demonstration of CAI
programs at your local computer store, and
see for yourself just how rewarding a good
education can be.

ail

Computer
Advanced
Ideas

Bringing Ideas w Home

1442 A Walnut Street, Suite 341
Berkeley, CA 94709 (415) 526-9100

Apple is a registered trademark ol Apple Computers. Inc IBM is a
registered trademark ol IBM Com Commodore is a trademark ol
Commodore Business Machines. Inc

CIRCLE 130 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Eagle PC-2, continued..

LLl

Wi - i - iTrnr n

i i 1 1 i i i i 1 1 i

i rn i i i

The keyboard has 105 full-stroke keys. The top and bottom rows contain 24 programmable
function keys.

break, and home. In addition, there
are keys marked enhance and help
(implemented in some software pack-
ages), four cursor control keys (arranged
in a logical pattern), and 24 pro-
grammable function keys. Unfortunate-
ly, the left cursor and backspace key are
one and the same, i.e., it is a destructive
left cursor. We prefer separate keys.

However, 24 function keys are far
more than are found on most computers.
Many of these are defined in the various
applications software packages, while
others may be defined by the user.

Function keys Fl to F14 have labels
marked on the keys. These are the cor-
rect designations for Eagle software
packages (EagleWriter and EagleCalc),
but do not correspond to IBM PC func-
tions. The GWBasic software package
contains a program, IBMKEYS, that re-
defines the keys to duplicate those on an
IBM PC.

The keyboard has an excellent feel
and keybounce is nonexistent. All keys
repeat after being held down for about
one second. There is no audible keyclick
on repeated characters, so you must
watch the screen to get the desired
number of repeats.

System Unit and Disk Drives

The system unit houses the cpu, mem-
ory, I/O circuitry, disk drives, and
expansion slots. The mpu employed is a
16-bit 8088 running at 4.7 MHz. Its
performance on our benchmark was
about as expected falling between the TI
Professional and the IBM PC (see Table
1).

The PC-2 has 128K of RAM, expand-
able to 512K. With the exception of a
bootup procedure, nothing is contained
in ROM, hence, applications software
packages tend to eat up large chunks of
memory. With GWBasic, for example,
user memory is restricted to 51,674
bytes; with EagleCalc, you get 39K.
This, of course, is no different from
other machines in this category, but
quite different from low end and note-
book computers which have Basic and
sometimes other software contained in
ROM.

Two low profile, double-sided, dou-
ble-density floppy disk drives each with
a capacity of 320K are built into the PC-
2. We like the quarter-rotation handles
which raise and lower the drive spindles
and hold the disk in the drive; we find
them more reliable than the flimsy doors
on the IBM PC (and many other
computers). In operation, the drives are
exceptionally quiet.

Indeed, the system itself is noiseless
(no noisy fan like the TI Professional, al-
though we understand that TI dealers
will replace the airplane turbine in ear-
lier units with a new, quiet fan). To see if
overheating might be a problem, we op-
erated the Eagle in a room heated to 90
degrees and left it running for 24 hours
with no ill effects. After 24 hours, the
system unit was quite warm, but it still
was executing our program flawlessly.

The PC-2 system unit has connectors
for the keyboard, monitor (D-9 jack for
Eagle monitor and RCA jack for others),

Computer Time

Accuracy

(Lower Is better)

TI Professional 0:15

.005859375

Eagle PC-2 0.19

.005859375

IBM PC 0:24

.01159668

Table 1. Benchmark comparisons.

two RS-232 serial devices, and a parallel
printer. The printer output is to a female
Centronics-type connector, the same as
on most printers. We had some difficulty
locating a cable with a male Centronics
connector on both ends, but as this
convention is employed by more com-
puter manufacturers (Epson, Fujitsu,
etc.), we expect cables to be more readily
available.

The system unit also has three slots
for IBM-type add-on boards. In the PC-
2, two of these slots are already occu-
pied, so only one is truly available.

Output Display

The PC-1 and PC-2 configurations
both include a 12* green monochrome
monitor. We like the power cord that
plugs into the system unit allowing the
entire system to be turned off and on
with just one switch. Text resolution is
80 characters by 25 lines. Characters are

The built-in character
set is quite rich.

formed within an 11 x 14 pixel matrix
and are very legible.

The specifications for the monitor
state that it has 720 x 352 pixel graphics
resolution. However, this is moot, as
graphics are not supported by the mono-
chrome video board. The only graphics
possible on the monochrome monitor
are those formed with the 50 graphics
characters and the locate command in
Basic.

The built-in character set is quite rich
and provides 222 printing characters;
these are, of course, the sames ones
found on the IBM PC. They include the

Area for plug in boards in PC-2 is crowded with two boards; there is room for one
more.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Simulator II

■a

Put yourself in the pilots seat of a Piper 181 Cherokee Archer f/r an awe-inspiring flight over reahst.c scene
from New York to Los Angeles. High speed color-filled 3D graphics will give you a beautiful panoramic v.
as you practice takeofls. landings, and aerobatics. Complete documentation will get you airborne quickly
even if you've never flown before. When you think you're ready, you can play the World War I Ace aerial battle
came Flight Simulator II features include a animated color 3D graphics a day, dusk, and night flying modes
a over 80 airports in four scenery areas: New York, Chicago. Los Angeles, Seattle, with additional scenery
areas available - user-variable weather, from clear blue skies to grey cloudy conditions • complete > flight
instrumentation a VOR, ILS, ADF, and DME radio equipped - navigation facilities and course plotting - World
War I Ace aerial battle game a complete information manual and flight handbook.

or write or can for more information. For direct orders please add $1 .50 tor
snipping and specify UPS or first class mail delivery American Express, Diners
Club, MasterCard, and Visa accepted.

Order Line: 800/637-4983

CIRCLE 234 ON READER SERVICE CARD

styfeLOGIC

Corporation
713 Edgebrook Drive
Champaign IL 61820

(217) 359-8482 Telex: 206995

Eagle PC-2, continued.

»f JJ" 351 X$ 37x 311 39' « < „, fl .

S3 S S4 i SS 7 Si 8 57 J S8 : S * ■ M < 4 2
MT Ml K* Ml i7C Ml Hi 2, |! j £J

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a!a»*! , -"'-". 1 5:s. i a:s:. 1

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I HI 1 142 f

i« 4 isa a lsi i is2 y

223 * 224 I iS J £ f " 7 " 8 I *» I » . 221 | 222 |

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i 246 r 247 . 241 • 2« 29 251 * 252 '

Screen />Ao/o jAomw character set of 222 printing characters.

expected ASCII letters, numbers and
symbols, 50 graphics characters, 37 for-
eign letters, 17 Greek letters, math
symbols, and several other strange
characters.

A medium-resolution color board
(320 x 200 pixels) is available for use
with any good quality RGB color mon-
itor. This board allows the use of the
graphics commands in GWBasic as well
as the running of machine language pro-
grams that employ color graphics.

EagleCalc

EagleCalc is an exceptionally versatile
spreadsheet package. In the default
mode, EagleCalc displays eight 8-char-
acter columns and 20 rows. Three lines
at the bottom of the screen show remain-
ing memory, cursor coordinates and
contents of current field, command
prompts, help prompts, and the current
line being entered.

The spreadsheet has maximum di-
mensions of 64 columns by 255 rows. Of
course, with only 39K available, you will
not be able to build a 64 by 255
spreadsheet; a matrix of about 4000 cells
is about the largest possible unless you
add more memory.

Individual column widths can be var-
ied to accommodate various labels.
However, we did not like the mandatory
one-column blank between cells. This
prohibits the use of long titles that carry
across several columns on the top of a
spreadsheet.

A wonderful feature of EagleCalc is
the built-in help mode. When you hit the

help key, a tutorial replaces the
spreadsheet on the screen. In total, there
are eight screens of material that prac-
tically comprise a condensed manual on
EagleCalc.

EagleCalc has all the expected spread-
sheet functions including NPV (net
present value), AVG (average), IF
(Boolean test), and LOOKUP (searches
for a value within a range of cells).

Eight function keys are implemented
in EagleCalc for such operations as
displaying the directory of files, loading
and saving files, printing, formatting,
and clearing.

The 80-page EagleCalc manual is easy
to understand. This, coupled with two
sample programs on the master disk,
should make learning the system a
breeze for the first-time user. In most
cases, the commands are identical with
VisiCalc. so many of the books and
routines written for VisiCalc should be
usable with EagleCalc as well.

EagleWriter

Like EagleCalc, the EagleWriter disk
boots up with a menu that allows selec-
tion of EagleWriter, disk backup, assign-

On/- PC-2 was an early model so we had to install an updated EPROM Irev.C) to give it
greater compatibility with the IBM PC.

Installing the EPROM required us to follow a long 24-step procedure for disassembly,
installation, and reassembly.

February 1984 ■ Creative Computing

Data managemen
software
takes off.

It's not just a data base. It's data management.
It's a big idea, and once you see how powerful
it can make your personal computer you'll know why
Condor Data Management software is the right idea at
the right time.

With Condor you get all the power and flexibility
of a fully relational database, plus a Report Writer
to generate reports. At no extra charge.
And it's simple to use. You can set up data fields
quickly without the need for programming experience.
Because Condor I and Condor 3 were wntten for
business people with business needs.

Begin with Condor I. the advanced file manager.
Upgrade later as your business and your data grows, to
Condor 3, the fully relational data management system. It's
the same system that hardware manufacturers like DEC,
Sony, Zenith, and Hewlett-Packard have selected to market
with their personal computers.

To find out how Condor Data Management software
~ I can make your business take off, see your
personal computer dealer, or call 1-800-854-7100
x/65 (in California. 1-800-422-4241 xl65) for
the dealer nearest you.

He'll prove our point. That Condor is the
data management software powerful
. enough to be useful to business, yet
i simple enough for business to use.

Sooth Stole St . Ani

■ v J988

CIRCLE 246 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Eagle PC-2, continued...

ment of system parameters, or entry of
time and date.

In general, you will go directly to the
program, however, you will have to as-
sign system parameters at least once for
the type of printer you have connected.
This is a longish 23-step procedure, but
it is well documented in the User's
Guide. EagleWriter recognizes four
major types of printers:

• Non-precision printers

• Diablo 1610, NEC 5515

• Qume Sprint 5, C.Itoh, Diablo 630

• NEC 5510

If you have another type of printer,
you must select the option that most
closely resembles it. User configuration
is not possible.

A review of EagleWriter could be a
feature review in itself, so we will
present just some of the highlights.

EagleWriter normally operates in an
overstrike mode, although the ins (in-
sert) key will open up space from the
cursor to the bottom of the screen for
the insertion of letters, words, or en-
tire paragraphs. Thus, in some sense,
EagleWriter can be operated in over-
strike or insert mode, whichever you
prefer. Reformatting a line or page is
carried out practically instantaneously
— a pleasant change from some other
word processing programs.

EagleWriter has two operating modes:
edit and command. Edit mode is used
for most functions (creating and editing
documents, saving and reading flies, and
printing), while command mode is used
only for saving and reading portions of
flies.

EagleWriter has three kinds of hy-
phens: hard (always in the same place),
firm (in words at the end of the line),
and soft (in words at the end of a page).
You can tell EagleWriter how you want
to treat both firm and soft hyphens.

EagleWriter has character, word, and
line deletion. Insertion can be done by
typing items to be inserted or by using
the "cut and paste" (bloc 1 move)
facility.

There is a search and repla facility
which can be used in a discretionary or
automatic way. In fact, search and re-
place can even include files on the disk if
you wish. Searching is exceptionally
powerful and can be exact, literal, or
make use of wildcards in several ways.

Output formatting and printing have a
wide range of possibilities and offer as
much flexibility as we have seen on any
word processing package.

Thirteen function keys are implement-
ed in EagleWriter, and many of the
other special keys (help, delete, etc.)
are also used. Since all of these keys are
labeled, no special overlays or keytop
labels are necessary.

EagleWriter comes with a thick, 211-

page manual which looks a bit forbid-
ding, but, with its extensive illustrations
and sample documents on disk, is quite
comprehensible.

GWBasic

Microsoft GWBasic is a $245 option
with the Eagle PC. This is the standard
8088 Basic interpreter that runs under
MS-DOS. It has all the bells and whis-
tles with the exception oi the graphics
commands which require the optional
color board.

According to the documentation, the
disk comes with a User's Guide, Basic
Reference Manual and Basic Reference
Book. We're not sure of the difference
between these latter two documents as
we got an early version which included
only one 102-page manual titled, "Lan-
guage Feature Extensions to Standard
Basic-86 Version 5.0." As we remarked
in our review of the Computer Devices

All you do is pop in an

IBM PC disk, power up

the Eagle, and you are

off and running.

DOT, this is a poorly organized manual
that suffers from the lack of a table of
contents and an index. We presume that
production shipments will include the
specified documentation.

IBM PC Compatibility

Although the Eagle PC is promoted
and sold as an IBM PC compatible com-
puter, nowhere in the documentation
does it mention how to run IBM PC
software. As it turns out, perhaps it is
not necessary.

All you do is pop in an IBM PC disk,
power up the Eagle, and you are off and
running. It is that easy!

Of course, not every PC disk will run.
We tried to run the disk from PC Disk
Magazine. No go, except for one pro-
gram. We quickly traced the reason to
the fact that we did not have Basic on
the Eagle. Once we loaded GWBasic we
had no further problems. Naturally, you
will not be able to run color graphics
programs or games if you do not have
the color board and a color monitor, but
that should not be any surprise.

We were pleased with this compatibil-
ity, but just a teensy bit of documenta-
tion would have been nice. Eagle dealers
have a booklet, "Eagle Compatible
Product Catalog," that lists the IBM
and third party hardware and software
that works on the Eagle. Unfortunately,
this is not available to end users.

Documentation

As mentioned earlier, all the manuals
for the Eagle PC are contained in one
large three-ring binder. The manuals in-
clude a 78-page User's Guide, manuals
on EagleCalc and EagleWriter, a 50-
page MS-DOS User's Guide, a 34-page
CP/M-86 User's Guide, a glossary of
terms, and a short section with customer
support and warranty information.

All the manuals are written specifi-
cally for the Eagle PC, a pleasant change
from the mildly customized applications
software manuals furnished with so
many other machines. Illustrations are
included where necessary, and we found
all the manuals to be clear and
thorough.

Warranty and Support

The Eagle PC comes with the usual
90-day limited warranty on parts and la-
bor, plus a one-year warranty on parts
only.

Service on the hardware is available
from either the selling dealer, Bell &
Howell (a third party maintenance
organization with 175 service locations),
or directly from Eagle in Los Gatos.

Software support is also available
from your local dealer, from regional
distributors, or directly from the Eagle
Customer Service Organization. You
can hope you don't need to use this last
option. We tried calling the distributor
that shipped us the computer and they
gave us a toll-free number to call at
Eagle. It produced only a recorded
announcement that it was inoperative.

We then called long distance — several
times — and left messages. Finally, one
was returned by a charming young lady
who asked if we really had a problem.
We said, "Yes, why do you think we

February 1984 c Creative Computing

>ur Products Get Used . . . Everywhere

In Business . . .

Toshiba

ITT

Sony

Boeing

General Electric

Lockheed

Union Carbide

Xerox

ARCO

TRW

Hazeltine

Raytheon

Westinghouse

Sorcim

Harris

Quantum

Grumman

Intel

McDonnell Douglas

Sperry Univac

Chase Manhattan

SofTech

Honeywell

E.I. DuPont

Poloroid

IBM

Magnavox

Hughes Aircraft

In Government . .

NASA

Argonne Labs

Jet Propulsion Labs

U.S. Army

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Navy

Naval Postgraduate School

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Treasury

Social Security Administration

FAA

Depart, of Energy, Canada

Depart, of Transportation, Canada

Depart, of Publications, Australia

In Education . . .

Harvard University
Georgetown University
University of Chicago
California Institute of Technology
John Hopkins University
University of Southern California
University of Massachusetts
University of Wisconsin
U.S. Naval Academy
Rochester Institute of Technology
University of Iceland
University of Leicester
University of Trondhiem
University of Zimbabwe

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CIRCLE 187 ON READER SERVICE CARD

UNICORN TREASURES

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Each Unicorn educational game teaches
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our games feature colorful, high re-
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CIRCLE 248 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Eagle PC-2, continued...

called?" She said, "Okay, then I'll have a
customer service person call you back."
None ever did.

When testing a computer, we like to
act as a normal customer, but after a
month we gave up, revealed our true
identity, and got some fast response to
our problems.

We understand that things have im-
proved today, so we tried the customer
service line just before putting the finish-
ing touches on this article and were re-
warded with a return call in about two
hours. We judge that quite acceptable.

Pricing

As mentioned above, the Eagle PC-2
with 128K, two disk drives, monochrome
monitor, EagleWriter, EagleCalc, MS-

The Eagle PC is a well-
designed computer
with plenty of power
and good versatility in
a space-efficient
package.

DOS, and CP/M lists for $3495. Here
are the prices of several add-ons and
options:

64K Memory Kit $ 135

8087 co-processor 495

10M Hard disk unit 2495

Color board 295

GWBasic 245

In Summary

The Eagle PC is a well-designed com-
puter with plenty of power and good
versatility in a space-efficient package.
The keyboard uses a standard layout,
has a numeric keypad, and an un-
expected 24 function keys. The disk
drives are very quiet and, when the
drives are not in operation, the system is
totally noiseless.

We think that the monochrome board
and monitor should permit the use of
graphics, and we had a few small bones
to pick with the documentation. Our
experience with the customer support
group wasn't wonderful, but that seems
to have been rectified. All in all, these
are small nits against a machine that is
excellent in nearly every regard.

Considering the IBM compatibility,
bundled software including both MS-
DOS and CP/M-86, expansion slots,
and compact design, we And ourselves in
agreement with Eagle when they say,
"The Eagle PC is simply, a better PC."
It sure is. IS

CIRCLE 402 ON READER SERVICE CARD
February 1984 c Creative Computing

Last Year Over

w i

. nee people enter
Asylum, they don't ivantxo
leave And neither will you.

Inside this thrilling
adventure game from
Screenplay challenges
lie around every comer,
behind every door. There
are hundreds of doors, too!

You've gone crazy
from playing too many adventure games.
You've been placed in the asylum to act out
your delusions. To cure yourself, you must
make good your esc ape.

There's no one you can turn to for help.
Almost every turn leads to a dead end. Or
worse, vigilant guards stand in your way. If
you can't out muscle them, can you outtliink
them? Inmates line hallways offering help.

Asylum runs in 4HK on the Atari, Commodore 64 ami IBM /'< '
computers See your local software dealer. >"29 95

Hut can they he trusted?
While getting out of
the asylum may take
months, you'll get into our
game instantly.

Smooth scrolling three
■ dimensional graphics give
you a very eerie sense of
reality.This feeling is also
^ heightened by the use of
full sentence commands.

No wonder thousands of people bought
Asylum \asi year, and PC World recently
named Asyliuri one of the top ^**i
ten games for the IBM PC.

Play Asylum. All you have
to be committed to is fun.

■screenplay

Box 3558, Chapel Hill NC 27514 800-334-5470

You could win $10,000 from Screenplay anywhere our games are sold.

CIRCLE 220 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Challenge yi

Make beautiful music. Everyone loves
music. And anyone who has ever hummed
a tune can write one, now. Scarborough has
taken the universal language of music and
developed a software program that makes it
fun and easy to write songs for budding
composers of any age.

Even those who don't recognize a single
note can be composing songs in 15 minutes.
Simulated piano roll graphics and on-screen
commands serve as a guide every step of
the way — from scales and rhythm to more
complex musical forms and theory.

With Songwriter, composing songs is as
simple as "do-re-mi." Write a song, change,
delete or add a note, change tempo and
teach the computer to repeat musical
mot i f s. Even save^ompositions to^jlay back
through the computer or your home stereo.
For added fun, there is also a library of 28
popular songs to listen to and experiment
with, as well as a series of educational
activities for adults and children.

Songwriter is like a word processor for
music that will bring the whole family back
to the computer, again and again — because
Songwriter encourages experimentation
and makes the whole process fun. Isn't that
why you bought a personal computer in the
first place?

Every kid has a song in his heart. (So does
the "kid" in every parent!) Help yours

•Jfldcompos''
weB'ln15minut«,u

Available

obo^d 1

r creativity.

Be quick on the draw. PictureWriter is
lagic! Create any shape or pattern,
instantly. Fill areas with glowing colors and
3ven hear pictures set to music.

PictureWriter brings out the artist in any-
>ne. With this program, your child can
create his or her own picture gallery and
watch the computer redraw the pictures like
magic on the screen. PictureWriter also
includes a library of masterpieces by other
'picture writers" that can be colored, edited
jnd redrawn.
Like all Scarborough programs, Picture-
I Writer encourages experimentation and
| continually challenges the child to explore

lew avenues. And all the while, Picture-
| Writer subtly develops the child's familiarity
/ith the fundamentals of step by step com-
pter programming.

Getting started is simple. The built-in
tutorial zips the artist into the program
| quickly and keeps him or her creatively
jccupied for hours.
The possibilities are endless with Picture-
/riter. In fact, children find it so captivating
| that parents will probably want to doodle
/ith it, too. And why not?
You can't stay an adult forever.
Available for Apple" $39.95
(Soon, Atari")

-pplc. IBM and Atari are registered trademarks of Apple Computer. Inc..
nternational Business Machines Corp. and Atari, Inc. respectively.
I Commodore 64 is a trademark of Commodore Electronics Limited.

ugh System.

SuperSprite and Arcade Board

A New Way

To Do Graphics

On The Apple

creative
computing
equipment
evaluation

Steve Arrants

fhen it was first introduced, the Apple
was perhaps the most revolutionary ma-
chine of its kind. Though it offered a tiny
amount of RAM. no disk -drives, and only
a fair Basic, hobbyists and hackers fell in
love with it. Well, times have changed.
The Apple is now just one product among
many. Although the folks in Cupertino
have continued to improve the product,
graphics and sound are still limited on the
Apple.

Go to your favorite arcade. Play Zaxxon
or Robotron. Spectacular graphics, right?
Life-like sounds? Until now, those effects
were only palely imitated on the Apple.
Exciting graphics and sound on the Apple
were usually -achieved at the expense of
large chunks of memory.

The Texas Instruments 99/4A, Atari
400 and 800. and even the Commodore
64 and Vic-20 all boast graphics and sound
capabilities that make Apple aficionados
green with envy. By adding special chips
that can produce these effects, manu-
facturers can not only offer a good com-
puter, but an excellent game machine.

For reasons of its own, Apple has not
included these special chips in the lie.
Perhaps they are trying to change the
image of the Apple to one of a business
machine rather than a game unit. It is
interesting to note that the Lisa, built as
the quintessential business machine, offers
superb graphics capabilities. LisaDraw
makes graphics so easy, so foolproof,
that I wish those capabilities could have
been transferred over to the lie.

Why has Apple ignored innovations in
graphics and sound? Why does creating
hi-res graphics on the Apple take more
time and thought than writing a master's
thesis? And why doesn't Apple offer sprite
graphics, which other manufacturers offer
as a sine qua non'! If we look at the
history of Apples, it is easy to see that
Apple does not try to cover all the possible
applications of its machines. Apple Com-
puter does an excellent job in covering

Su/wrSprite (top) and Arcade Board (bottom/.

and supporting business applications,
business graphics, and data management.
Peripheral manufacturers support the other
side — the frills in which a business buyer
is not interested. It is the same with sprite
graphics and great sound. Peripheral manu-
facturers see a need and fill it.

Sprite graphics hardware is not too
difficult to produce. Neither is the hardware
for creating lifelike sounds. Having both
of them running in conjunction with Apple
graphics, however, is not as easy as it may
sound. The same with software. Sprite
software is simple to write. But writing
the software that allows all of this to go
on simultaneously is very difficult. In effect,
it calls for the writing of a new language.

Two manufacturers have just released
boards for the Apple which make sprite
generation possible. Both Synetix Systems
Inc. and Third Millenium Engineering
Corporation have done the almost impos-
sible. With their new peripheral boards
music, speech, sprite graphics, and more
are available for your Apple.

They have not only changed the Apple
but traasformed it. Both products are based
on the same principle. The 6502 is fine
for what it does, but when generating
sound or graphics, it is agonizingly slow.
The microprocessor dedicates all of its
time and energy to the task of creating.

moving, and changing graphics and sound.
Therefore, program execution is slow,
especially when the microprocessor must
perform other tasks.

Instead of doing tricks with memory or
language, a new graphics and sound proces-
sor takes over these jobs from the 6502
chip, freeing it for other work. But before
we take a look at these new peripheral
boards, let's take a look at Apple vs. sprite
graphics.

The Limits Of Apple Graphics

If you have ever done any graphics
applications with the Apple, you have
probably been bothered by color-clashing.
Whenever bits are in horizontally adjacent
positions, clashing occurs if one bit is on
and the other is off. When an object moves
across the screen, it causes this clash and
erases background it passes over.

This doesn*t cause any problems when
one or two objects move across a black
background. When ten objects fly across
an orange background, however, you begin
to see how mediocre Apple graphics really
are.

As an analogy, think of an animated
cartoon. Characters move across the
screen, passing freely in front of and behind
one another. They can walk into the
background or foreground with ease. This

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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CIRCLE 205 ON READER SERVICE CARD

SuperSprite/ Arcade, continued

is because these images are multi-plane—
the entire image is composed of many
parts, and each part does not have to be
redrawn with each move.

Because Apple graphics are done on a
single plane, they are much more difficult
to work with. You could always XDRAW
or "mask" certain areas of the screen, but
both of these methods are difficult, time
consuming, and basically unsatisfactory
solutions. Each object must be erased and
redrawn with each move.

Beyond The Limits With Sprites

Sprite graphics offer greater speed—
comparable to assembly language
graphics— and are easier to create. There
is no XDRAWing, no masking or bit-
shifting. Both SuperSprite and the Arcade
Board offer 16 colors, which can be overlaid
to produce different hues. With 35 graphic
planes, almost any effect you can think of
can be drawn.

But that is not all— Apple graphics are
also available at any time. Think of the
possibilities of using 35 graphics planes at
once! Instead of redrawing an entire screen,
you need only move an object in one
graphic plane. For example, if you have a
scene of a car driving across a desert, you
can animate both the graphic plane on
which the car is drawn and that of the
background. They are the only planes
that you need to bother with. In contrast,
because Apple graphics are done on a
single plane, the entire scene must be
redrawn.

These impressive effects are achieved,
using Applesoft Basic and an appended
language which uses the ampersand hook
to call the sprite graphics functions into
use. Since this language is just an extension,
it is totally compatible with Applesoft.
No other language can make that claim —
not Logo, not GraForth, not Pilot.

The potential of these new boards and
their languages is exciting. Think how
many times you have wanted to write
your own commercial quality game but
couldn't because learning machine lan-
guage or GraForth seemed too difficult.
With these new products, sprite graphics
programming is almost as easy as using
regular Apple graphics.

SuperSprite

SuperSprite consists of the Texas In-
strument TMS 9918A video display
processor, the General Instruments A Y3-
8912PSG sound generator, 16K of RAM
for video use, and the Echo II Speech
Synthesizer. Included in the package is
the Star Sprite software. Echo II Speech
software, a speaker, cables, and docu-
mentation.

Installation is involved. The board must
be placed in slot 7 to pick up the video
trace signal. Four jack inputs on the card
must be connected. One goes to a monitor,
which allows normal video when the Super-
Sprite board is not in use. Another con-
nection goes between the card and the
video output on the Apple. A third con-
nection is between the card and the monitor

creative comparing

HARDWARE PROFILE

Product: SuperSprite

Type: Graphics Board and speech
synthesizer

System: Apple II, II+, lie
Specifications: Texas Instruments
TMS 9918A Video Display
Processor, General Instruments
AY-3-8912 Programmable Sound
Generator, Echo II speech
synthesizer, support chips,
cables, software

Performance: Flawless.

Ease of Use: Very easy.

Documentation: Very good, going,
beyond mere instruction.

Price: $395

Summary: A well-designed, excellent
package. Very good documen-
tation, software and packaging.
One of this year's most important
product's for the Apple.

Overall Mark: A+

Manufacturer:
Synetix, Inc.
15050 N.E. 95th St.
Redmond, WA 98052

used for sprite and Apple video, and fourth
input/output connects the SuperSprite
board to an auxiliary amplifier, such as a
stereo system.

There are three different software pack-
ages for the SuperSprite board. Star Sprite
I from Avant-Garde is a beginner's package.
Star Sprite II and III are more advanced
versions, offering more utilities and more
machine language programming infor-
mation. All disks are unprotected, listable,
and copyable, allowing you to make back-
ups and customize programs for your own
use. Since the software is useless without
SuperSprite, this is understandable.

The software consists of the Ampereprite
language, a program to help with the
installation and set-up, three short games,
and a tutorial. Also included are programs
for sprite creation, sprite painting, scene
creation, realistic sound generation, and
text labeling. Little previous programming
experience is required. Simply read the
instructions, and you will be creating path
and direction tables, mazes, animation
sequences, and your own games in no
time. If you can program in Applesoft,
you can program with Ampersprite.

If you purchase SuperSprite with the
Echo II Speech Synthesizer option, you
can include human speech in your pro-
grams. The Echo II software lets you
create spoken words from letters typed in
or by phonemes, the smallest distinguish-
able sound units of a language. The word
Speech, for example, is composed of six
letters but only four phonemes. Using
phonemes allows greater control over the
speech, making it sound more natural.
Also included is Echo Words, a dictionary
of 719 words and phrases in a female
voice.

The Echo Speech Synthesizer can be
used with sprite graphics and within regular
Applesoft programs.

CIRCLE 400 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Arcade Board

The Arcade Board uses the same Video
Display Processor as SuperSprite. The chip
used for sound generation is the General
Instruments AY-3-8910, a cousin to that
found in the SuperSprite. The package
includes software and documentation. No

February 1 984 c Creative Computing

GPeative compatiRg

HARDWARE PROFILE

Product: Arcade Board

Type: Graphics Board

System: Apple II, II + . He

Specifications: Texas Instruments
TMS 9918A Video Display
Processor. General Instruments
AY-3-8910 Programmable Sound
Generator, support chips, software

Performance: Very good

Ease of Use: Very easy

Documentation: Preliminary
documentation was OK.

Price: $225

Summary: A good, "no-frills" package.

Overall Mark: A

Manufacturer:

Third Millenium Engineering Corp.

1015 Gayley Ave.. Suite 394

Los Angeles. CA 90024

provision for speech synthesis is present,
and cables are not provided. The Arcade
Board installs in any available slot, although
4 or 7 is recommended. Slot 4 must be
used to run any of the demo programs.

Insert one cable from the board into
your monitor or television. A wire from
the board plugs into the Apple Video
Out. This feeds the normal Apple video
signal to the Arcade Board for soft-
switching between Apple video and Arcade
Board video. The final connection is be-
tween the board and an external speaker
(not provided I.

Software consists of the Ampercade
language extension to Applesoft and demo
programs. Its use is similar to the Star
Sprite extension of SuperSprite. The photo-
copied documentation won't win any
literary awards, but it does give an adequate
explanation of commands. Included in
the documentation package are reference
manuals on the VDP and PSG chips. They
are nice to have, but I wonder how many
users will understand them.

How They Work

Both boards remove from the Apple
6502 all the labor involved in creating
graphics and sound. Since the chips on
the boards are dedicated to performing
only these tasks, they do a much better—
and quicker— job. For example, to move
a 40-pixel wide character, the Apple 6502
must draw the character, erase it, and
redraw it in a new location. To do this
involves literally thousands of machine
instructions. Basic is too slow, and assembly
language is tot) complex for many users.
With the SuperSprite or Arcade Board,
the same operation can be done with about
ten machine instructions. Even slow Basic
can handle this.

February 1984 ■ Creative Computing

The same is true for sound generation.
To make a sound on the Apple, you toggle
a port to move the speaker cone in and
out. The frequency and tone are deter-
mined by the rate of toggling. If you wish
to have a continuous tone, the 6502 must
continually toggle the speaker port. While
it is doing this, it can't do anything else.
That is why Apple games usually have
gotxl graphics with only few sound
effects.

You can have animation or you can
have sound effects. You just can't have
them at the same time. With these boards,
the 6502 tells them to create the desired
sound until told to stop. The 6502. there-
fore, is free to direct other things, such as
animation. Thus, the combination of the
VDP chip and the PSG chip take care of
most of the "leg-work" involved in creating
graphics and sound.

The commands used with both boards
are quite simple to use in a normal Basic
program. Use regular Applesoft Basic
graphics commands for Apple graphics.
To use sprites and sound effects, you
must use the special language extensions.

All must begin with an ampersand <&).
For example, the line

10&RX 15.6
in Star Sprite will change the text color to
15 I white) and the background to 6 (red).
The lines

10 & SOFF

20&TNA. 256. 15
initialize the sound chip and then generate
a tone in channel A with a pitch value of
256 and a volume of 15 with Ampercade.

To do these operations with an unex-
tended Applesoft would involve many more
lines of programming. In the first example,
you would have to write a character gen-

Comparison of 6502
Graphics with Sprite
Graphics

• Machine language and sprite graphics
are much faster and smoother than 6502
graphics.

• Machine language and sprite graphics
are easier to do than 6502 graphics. There
is no XDRAWing, masking, refreshing,
bit-shifting, or pre-shifted shapes, just
coordinate changes.

• Graphics and sequences impossible to
do with the 6502 are easily programmed
with sprites.

• More colors are possible, and colors
can be blended with sprite graphics.

• Sprite graphics offer 35 graphic planes
in place of the normal one plane avail-
able with 6502 graphics.

• Sprite graphics and 6502 graphics can
be combined with no color-clash or dis-
tracting interaction.

eration program in high-resolution graphics,
which would involve a shape table. In the
second example, you would do a scries of
POKEs and value statements. With Super-
Sprite and Arcade Board, effects such as
these are easy.

All other commands are just as easy.
The creation of sprites is more difficult,
involving pattern tables, path tables, and
animation editors. Doing that is almost as
easy— and as difficult— as using a com-
mercial Apple graphics package. You can't
enter a few commands and expect mar-
velous shapes and sounds to pop out of
an Apple. Using these new boards involves
learning a new type of graphics.

Summary

As the pictures show, sprite graphics
add a totally new dimension to Apple
graphics. I showed off SuperSprite at a
few user's group meetings. People couldn't
believe that I had the monitor connected
to an Apple. When the people at Synetix
came to our offices to show us SuperSprite,
I couldn't believe it either. But 1 have
used both boards and become a believer.
The Apple now has the same graphics
and sound capabilities found in the Com-
modore 64 and Atari in addition to Apple-
soft and the other unique Apple features.

The programming possibilities are ex-
citing. Challenging games and innovative
programs are now within the grasp of any
Apple owner. A vast knowledge of as-
sembly language is not needed: the pro-
gramming can be done from Applesoft
with the sprite language extensions.

Will this be the next step for Apples'.'
Will software be written to use these
boards? These are interesting and important
questions. There is no doubt that both
boards work and that they can enhance
the Apple. Unless software authors write
programs that use them, however, both
may go to the peripheral graveyard. With-
out software, they make great paper-
weights.

Which of the two is the best? The
SuperSprite package offers the Echo
Speech Synthesizer and better software.
The Star Sprite software is designed for a
range of users, from beginners to pro-
fessional programmers. The documentation
is excellent and not confusing, even when
explaining complex ideas and appli-
cations.

The Arcade Board package has fewer
frills but is far less expensive. Bear in
mind. too. that we had an early version
with preliminary documentation and soft-
ware. The Arcade Board does what it
promises, but. at the moment. I think
SuperSprite delivers more.

Software is generally incompatible be-
tween the two products. A program written
for the SuperSprite may not run on the
Arcade Board and vice versa. JE

CIRCLE 401 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Barbara Mackowiak

I f you sit down at a computer paint system, you expect to be
able to do some of the basic things you do with pen and brush,
ruler and compass. Draw a straight line or a circle. Erase it and
redraw it in a wider line. Paint in some red here, some blue
there. Soften the edge with a little airbrushing.

Then you push forward a bit. Say you would rather all that
red were a little brighter. Perhaps move that bit of freehand
drawing in the corner more toward the center, and make it
twice as big. Then you might like to see how the picture would
look if the right side of the screen were a mirror image of the
left side. Soon you are altering resolution, remapping colors,
and storing in buffers, as no human with ruler and compass
ever could.

This is a fairly accurate description of the path I followed
with Easel, a professional graphics arts program developed by
Time Arts Inc. The name is an acronym for Editor and Anima-
tion System with Extensible Library.

Using Easel, you draw with an electronic pen and tablet,
with gestures similar to those used for drawing on paper. The
image appears on a high quality RGB monitor.

Barbara Mackowiak. Box 814. Glen Ellen. CA 95442.
44

Figure 1. Simple Landscape.

As soon as Easel is loaded into the computer, the pen is
active. Any freehand drawing you do with the pen appears
immediately on the monitor screen.

Figure 2a. Variations.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

To choose a different pen type, to change a color, to retrieve
an image saved on the computer disk, or to select a command
for changing an image onscreen, glide the digitizing pen down
on the tablet. This brings to the bottom of the screen a menu
containing commands, a color palette, and a status box with
information on the current drawing mode. To select a com-
mand, put the cursor in the menu command box and press
down on the pen.

If you want information about any menu command, press
the "doc" icon before selecting the command. A concise
description of the command will appear on the computer
terminal.

The Main Menu comes up on the screen whenever Easel is
loaded. It lists other menus in the program, each of which car-
ries a set of related commands.

The Tint command allows you to tint
a range of colors from the first color
chosen to the second color chosen.

The Pens Menu has the basic drawing modes, such as Pen,
Brush, Airbrush, and Line, which can appear in any of eight
sizes. The Brush Menu has several special brushes, as well as a
command which allows you to create your own brush. Color
has commands for changing a single color; CMaps (color maps)
for changing several colors at a time; Fills for changing a color
on a selected area of the screen; Shape for drawing simple geo-
metric figures; Move for manipulating images onscreen; Frame
for saving images on disk and recalling all or part of an image
back to the screen.

The final entry in Main is the Etc Menu. Like Main, Etc is a
menu of menus. This layering opens up the system, allowing
Easel to be extended indefinitely. In the Easel I used, the Etc
Menu lists Misc. a menu of commands, such as grids and grav-
ity lines, that help in arranging images; Set Res, a menu of com-
mands for moving between high- and low-resolution screens;
Scale for rescaling, tapering, and putting images into perspec-
tive; Shear for shearing, tilting, and rotating images; Video for
digitizing an image with a video camera; and Cells for storing

and accessing image cells for custom brushes and fonts.

The pictures accompanying this article illustrate some of the
effects possible with Easel. The text below describes the com-
mands I used in making the images.

A Simple Landscape

The sky in Figure 1 is composed of colors shaded from pink
to blue through the Tint command. In preparation for tinting, I
changed two colors — the pink at the horizon and the darkest
blue at the top of the picture. To produce the pink, I used the
RGB (red/blue/green) command to make the color in position
one of the palette a medium red; then, using the Mix command,
I added white and blue to make the appropriate shade of pink.
For the darkest blue, I used RGB on the color in position seven
making it a medium blue, then used Mix to darken it.

The Tint command allows you to tint a range of colors from
the first color chosen to the second color chosen. By pressing
the pink and then the blue, I tinted the five intervening colors
of the palette.

As it happens, I made these color changes first, then began
drawing. However, I could just as well have done the picture
first, composing the sky of any consecutive colors in the palette,
and then tinted the colors. Any changes in color mapping in
the palette appear throughout the image onscreen.

Variations on a Theme

The system I used in Figures 2a, 2b, and 2c determines col-
ors through mapping. In color mapping, the value of a pixel is
not a specific color; instead, it is an index to a map or table of
color combinations and variations of the basic red, blue, and
green that make up all video colors. The table entry determines
the hue and intensity of the color on the graphics screen.
"Mapping" a color means referring to a place on this table for
the composition of the color. With this system, even though
only 16 colors can appear on the screen at a time, the number
of colors possible is vastly larger.

There are two menus of commands that control color map-
ping. Commands in the Color Menu affect one selected color,
which appears as the "current color" in the status box of the
menu. Mix, used in the previous picture, lets you blend any
other color into the current color by putting the cursor over the
color to be blended in; the chosen color will continue to be
added in as long as you press on the pen. Luminance lets you
adjust the brightness of a color by moving the digitizing pen left

Figure 2b. Variations

Figure 2c. Variations.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Easel, continued.

Figure 3. Strange Prism.

Figure 4. Concrete Poem.

or right on the tablet. RGB lets you selectively change the red,
blue, or green component of a color. Xchcol exchanges any two
colors onscreen.

Commands in the CMaps Menu affect the mapping of sev-
eral colors at a time. Tint, used in the previous picture, shades
all colors from the first color pressed to the second color
pressed. RMap brings to the screen a palette of random colors
that change continuously as long as you keep the cursor in the
RMap command box.

Since a change in the mapping of any color changes all in-
stances of that color onscreen, you can quickly see the effect of
any change on the entire image. This series shows the same im-
age with different color mappings. (I have left the menu
onscreen to show how the palette looks for each picture.)

Easel contains a variety of pens
and brushes.

A Strange Prism

Easel contains a variety of pens and brushes. These include
special brushes, such as Airbrush, which deposits a spray of up
to four colors, and Char, which deposits characters in a brush
mode, as well as the standard brushes that lay down solid color.
In general, pens and brushes replace whatever color they cover.
That is, a red line will be red, whether it covers black, green, or
yellow.

The X brushes, however, activate a Boolean "exclusive
OR" function. Used over background (position in the pal-
ette), each color paints as it appears in the palette. Used over
another color, the X brush produces a third color. For
example,

the color in palette position 10 1010

used over the color in position 9 1001

produces the color in position 3 001 1

What color actually appears depends on how the color in the

position is mapped.

In the Prism shown in Figure 3, I did the basic figure with
the standard Brush and softened the borders between colors

with an Airbrush spray, using equal parts of each color. The
diagonal bands I did with Ring X, a ring-shaped brush that
uses the exclusive-OR function. The colors of both the basic
figure and the diagonal bands are sequential colors from the
default palette — the palette that comes up whenever Easel
is loaded.

Concrete Poem

The Type command allows you to type on the graphics
screen from the keyboard. The position of the cursor when you
enter the type mode determines where the text begins and sets
the left margin. Keys such as delete, return, space bar, and
shift work as usual. Typed text appears in the current color
and covers any color onscreen. Once you leave the type mode
(by pressing the escape key), the type onscreen is just like any
other part of the image, and you can manipulate it with any of
the graphics commands.

For the picture in Figure 4, I typed each of the four basic
words onto the screen, positioned them with the Move com-
mand and changed their dimensions with the Zoom command.
I doubled the size of land and expanded the height of sky.
Sunset remains in its original size.

Rather than typing each word over and over, I used the Dup
command, which allows you to duplicate an image repeatedly
to fill a defined area of the screen. For the clouds, I typed cloud
and then made a "stamp" of the word with the Rubberstamp
command. The entire word would then appear whenever I
pressed on the pen.

After all the words were in position, I used Maskbrush to re-
color some of them. Maskbrush lets you paint over a selected
color and masks out all the others, so I could easily recolor
some of the yellow sunset words to red without harming the
surrounding background color.

Although Easel is available to run on a variety of hardware, I
used a Z80-based system with an image resolution of 756 x 482.
Sixteen colors were simultaneously available out of a possible
4096. I photographed the pictures directly from the monitor.

Easel is supported by Z80, 8086/88 and 68000 systems
including the IBM PC and is customized to work on a variety
of frame buffers. The prices, as well as the implementation of
some features of the software, vary with the hardware but begin
at $625.

Time Arts Inc., 4425 Cavedale Rd., Glen Ellen, CA 95442.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

A Little Bug Can Do A Lot Of Damage.

It looks so little, but it eats so much
—just like the contamination on your
computer's disk drive head. It may
not seem like much, but all it takes
is a micro-sized particle of dirt to
wipe out a lot of data, and once it's
gone, it's gone forever.

That's why yon need Perfect Data.

The Perfect Data Disk Drive Head
Cleaning Kit eliminates problem-
causing dirt so yon can keep your
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want it— perfect.

The Perfect Data Disk Drive Head
Cleaning Kit cleans single or dual-
sided drives simply and effectively.

PerfectData's patented wet /dry
method is the cleaning method
recommended by most leading
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manufacturers.

The Disk Drive Head Cleaning
Kit is just part of a whole family of
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Perfect Data is the- new name erf Innovative Computer Products— the leader in computer care since I

CIRCLE 151 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Announcing

THE NATIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

CIVIL WAR CHESS SET

Richly detailed portrait sculptures of great American heroes
— in solid pewter, solid brass and fine enamels.
A heirloom chess set to be enjoyed for generations.
Created by the world-famous craftsmen of The Franklin Mint.

THE NATIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY is
dedicated to bringing the excitement and
power of American history — as well as its
significance — to people in every part of
the land.

It is in keeping with this purpose that
the Society is about to issue its own Civil
War Chess Set. A dramatic tribute to the
heroes of both North and South — and a
work all the more intriguing because the
playing pieces include richly detailed
three-dimensional portrait sculptures of
the great Generals of Union and Confed-
eracy, captured for the ages in solid pew-
ter, solid brass and fine enamels.

This extraordinary new chess set will be
crafted to the highest standards of quality
and historical authenticity. The National
Historical Society has appointed The
Franklin Mint to create the sculptures,
each of which will be a new and original
design. Some figures will be shown stand-
ing, some seated, some kneeling, some
mounted on horseback. And each figure
will be painstakingly crafted of solid pew-
ter, hand-finished, then set atop a solid
brass pedestal base embellished with a cir-
cular band of richly colored enamel — blue
for the soldiers of the North, gray for
those of the South.

Every sculpture, moreover, will be so
rich with authentic detail that only the
artists and master craftsmen of The Frank-
lin Mint, steeped as they are in the tradi-
tion of precision coinage, could have
achieved it. Indeed, every nuance of facial
expression, uniform and weaponry — right
down to the buttons, braiding, sabers and
carbines — will be depicted with meticu-
lous accuracy.

Thus, The National Historical Society
Civil War Chess Set is also a magnificent
collection. A triumphant achievement of
portrait sculpture — and the ultimate in
micro-detailed miniaturization.

ALL FIGURES SHOWN ACTUAL SIZE

Major General

William Tecumseh Sherman

BISHOP

General in Chief
Ulysses S. Crant

KING

Available only by direct subscription. Issue Price: $17.50 per sculptured chess piece.
Limit: One complete set per subscriber. Please enter your subscription by February 29, 1984.

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This handsome pewter-finished chessboard and fitted presentation case will be provided as part of the set.

A dramatic showpiece
for your home or office

The chessmen themselves are scaled so
that each one will suit the function as-
signed to it in the game of chess. And the
handsomely crafted, pewter-finished play-
ing board has been sized with equal care.
Specially fitted, to also serve as the cover
for the case which will house all 32 playing
pieces, the board completes a presentation
so attractive that the chess set will be
played and displayed with pride and satis-
faction. A Certificate of Authenticity, and
specially written reference materials, will
also be provided.

Exhibited on a table or cabinet in your
living room, family room, den or office,
this is a possession certain to evoke both
admiration and respect from all who see it.
A unique tribute to unique Americans. A
work of heirloom quality, that will bring
you endless pleasure through the years.
And a chess set eminently worthy of being
passed on from generation to generation.

The subscription rolls are now open.
The work may be obtained only by direct
subscription, with a limit of one complete
set per subscriber.

The chessmen will be issued to you at
the attractive price of $17.50 each, with
the specially designed playing board and
protective case provided at no additional
charge. As a subscriber, you will receive
two sculptured pieces every other month.
You will, however, be billed for only one
chessman at a time — a total of just $17.50
per month. In addition, you will have the
option to complete your set earlier, if you
wish — but you will be under no obligation
to do so.

Here, then, is a work that will bring
lasting pleasure to chess enthusiasts, his-
tory buffs, collectors of military minia-
tures — to anyone who appreciates our
nation's heritage. Indeed, it is an unmis-
takably American chess set, that will make
a dramatic addition to any room. And an
exciting showpiece that will be displayed,
enjoyed and treasured by each succeed-
ing generation.

To acquire The National Historical Soci-
ety Civil War Chess Set, no advance pay-
ment is required. But please note that the
accompanying Subscription Application is
dated and should be returned postmarked
by February 29, 1984.

SUBSCRIPTION APPLICATION

The National Historical Society

CIVIL WAR CHESS SET

Please mail by February 29. 1984.

The National Historical Society

c/o The Franklin Mint

Franklin Center. Pennsylvania 19091

Please enter my subscription for The National
Historical Society Civil War Chess Set, consist-
ing of 32 chessmen.

I need send no money now. I will receive
two new playing pieces every other month.
but will be billed for just one piece at a time —
$17.50* per month — beginning when my
first shipment is ready to be sent. I will receive
the fitted presentation case and pewter-
finished chess board at no additional charge.
'Plus my stat* sales tax and $.50
per chessman for shipping and handlma.

Signature

ALL ■»*IIC», ION» AMI lUtJCCT TO »CCIH,NCI

Mr./Mrs./Miss-

AllAAl WilNt CltANLT

.ddri'ss

City

State. Zip

Limit: One complete set per subscriber.

CIRCLE 127 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Graphics
Software

so:

have a confession to make. I didn't
buy my Apple to do graphics. I was al-
ways more interested in word process-
ing, telecommunications, and text
adventures. The joys of hlin and vlin
always eluded me. Plotting and drawing
on an Apple were never very interesting.
I couldn't seem to put together an error-
free shape table. Then again, the Apple
was not designed as the best graphics
machine available. The right software
can do amazing things, however. That
said, let's look at some new graphics
packages for the Apple and see what
they can do.

Flying Colors

Flying Colors is an interactive soft-
ware package that lets you create high-
resolution drawings with a minimum of
effort and time. A joystick, paddles,
graphics tablet, or KoalaPad is needed.

After booting up the disk, you choose
the F option for Flying Colors or the P
option for the Slide Projector. In a few
seconds, the screen clears, and you are
ready to draw, paint, or doodle. At the
right of the screen is a menu for selecting
which type of shape you wish to draw,

Steve Arrants

such as a box or circle. You can clear the
screen, access the disk, place keyboard
characters on the screen, draw lines, or
select a brush type. Choosing the latter
brings you to another menu where color
is selected, along with the width and size
of brush.

creative computing

SOFTWARE PROFILE

Name: Flying Colors
Type: Drawing System
System: Apple II, II + , He
Format: Disk
Language: Basic and machine

language.
Summary: Very easy to use.
Price: $39.95
Manufacturer:

The Computer Colorworks

330 Bridgeway

Sausalito, CA 94965

Flying Colors.
52

You select these options with the in-
put device. Just move the cursor over
your selection and press button 0. But-
ton also functions as the brush tip.
When it is pressed, drawing action oc-
curs. Think of it as controlling the flow
of paint or ink to a brush. Button 1 dis-
plays the menus. It also aborts a drawing
function in progress.

You can choose from 20 colors, two
whites, and two blacks. If you use colors
from different sides of the chart,
artifacting will result. Artifacting occurs
when certain colors are placed next to

each other on a graphics page. For
example, if a green circle is placed on a
blue background, the boundary between
them may have other colors. This is
annoying, but easy to fix. Just use a
broad brush or the Fill option to color
over the artifacting.

If you use a non-solid color, such as
stripes, it is difficult to cover over or
erase them. The Apple sees only one of
the colors at a time, and therefore covers
only one of them. If you want to cover a
patterned background, select a broad
brush and just draw over the area. It is
much quicker, and easier to control.

The Alpha option lets you place key-
board characters anywhere on your pic-
ture. Select this option, and move the
cursor to the place where you want the
text to start. Type from the keyboard as
usual, and end by selecting another
menu option.

A Micro option allows for accurate
freehand drawing. In this mode, cursor
movement is confined to a very small
area in the drawing field. The cursor
only moves within this area while
drawing.

Pictures can be saved or retrieved
from disk. You can also retrieve pictures

Flying Colors drawing page is typical of
many graphics packages.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

There's No Time Wiser
Than After Dark."

BEAT THE APRIL FEE INCREASE !
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AND SAVE !

When you're looking for solid, up-to-
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The one system designed for serious
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than any other popular online
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lowest cost.

For only $6 to $20 per connect
hour, including telecommuni-
cations charges, you can
personally access the same
online files used by major
reference libraries and
corporations worldwide.
These files contain
the latest informa-
tion on
subjects
ranging from
business management, mathematics and
education to health, psychology, chemistry,
family planning, and just about
everything in between.

The range of databases available keeps expand-
ing all the time. AFTER DARK now brings you the
full text of the Academic American Encyclopedia,
as well as the Harvard Business Review.

CIRCLE 104 ON READER SERVICE CARD

And for microcomputer buffs, there's

a new online Software Directory listing

major software packages.

AFTER DARK'S simple, interactive

language and straightforward

logic take only minutes to master.

The system is outstandingly

comprehensive, remarkably

fast, and above all, fun to

use. All you need is your

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Apple Graphics, continued...

drawn or created with other graphics
packages.

Included with Flying Colors is a slide
projector program. Reboot the program
disk and select the P option. Insert your
picture disk when prompted.

Press S to select slides. Another menu
appears, showing a catalog of pictures
on the disk. Enter the slides into the tray
in any order. Up to 16 slides can be
placed in one tray, but you can link disks
together to get an unlimited number of
slides. Press esc to return to the main
menu.

Back at the main menu, you can select
the time each slide appears on screen,
from 1 to 99 seconds. You can choose
whether to change slides manually — by
button or keypress — and determine how
a slide appears on a screen — by blending
it into a previous slide or clearing the
screen before the next slide appears.

The documentation consists of two
disk size booklets. They are easy to
understand, but I don't think you will
need the Flying Colors book to get going.
Experimenting with the Flying Colors
program can teach you as much as the
documentation can. Use it as a reference
instead of road map. Flying Colors is
copy-protected, and comes with a
90^day warranty.

I like Flying Colors, though I admit it
won't help me become a computer
artist — the talent just isn't there. But it
is easy and fun to use. Flying Colors is
good if you want to go beyond normal
Apple graphics. I tested it on some
neighborhood children, and they had no
problems with it. It is a great choice for
the schoolroom at any level.

Pixit

Pixit is described as a graphics proces-
sor. It consists of three linked
programs — a Picture Editor, Create-a-
Shape, and a Shape Table Editor. Pixit is
menu driven; to go to the next level in a
program, you are prompted for the next
action. For example, when using the Pic-
ture Editor, you are prompted to select a
shape table, character set, and create a

picture, in that order. Selecting the Load
Shape Table function brings you a cat-
alog of all shape tables on a disk. Arrow
keys select which table to load. After
loading a shape table, you load a charac-
ter set in the same way. Now that both
of these are loaded, select Create Picture
and you are shown the editing screen.

The flashing cross at the center of the
screen is the cursor. Near the bottom are
two lines of information showing the
current status of the screen. X and Y tell
cursor location, and if you know any
Applesoft Basic, you should recognize
xdraw, hcolor, rot, etc. The values
shown are identical to those used in
Applesoft high-resolution graphics com-
mands. Hitting ? calls up a Help screen.

Two sets of keys move the cursor or
shape across the screen. W, A, S, and Z
move the cursor ten pixels, while I, J, K,
and M move it one pixel. The spacebar
selects the first shape in the table and
places it on the screen. Use the cursor
keys to put it in place. When you are sat-
isfied with placement, the P key and
return lock it into place.

Flying Colors is good if
you want to go beyond
normal Apple graphics.

Adding text is just as easy. Press T to
enter the Text mode. The cursor is re-
placed with a flashing > >. Type text
from the keyboard.

This is fine if you all want to do is use
the predesigned shapes included with
Pixit, but what about designing our own
shapes and pictures?

The Apple II high-resolution graphics
page is made up of 192 horizontal lines,
each containing 280 dots or pixels. The
pixels are numbered to 279 across each
line. An image is formed by lighting up

A Pixit cable car.

creative computing

SOFTWARE PROFILE

Name: Pixit

Type: Picture and shape creator

System: Apple II, II + , He

Format: Disk

Language: Applesoft and machine

language
Summary: Flexible and fun.
Price: $49.95
Manufacturer:

Baudville

1001 Medical Park Dr., S.E.

Grand Rapids, MI 49506.

certain pixels in certain patterns. Think
of an electronic billboard made up of a
grid of lights. By turning on different
lights at different intensities an image is
created. To create an image on a high-
resolution page, you could do a series of
HPLOTS. To draw a complex image
might require hundreds of him o is, since
there are more than 53,000 pixels on a
high-resolution page. Who wants to
spend the next two months HPLOTting?

An easier way is to create a shape ta-
ble. A shape table consists of all the
information the Apple needs to plot a
shape or image on the screen. Once de-
fined in a shape table, all that is needed
is a simple draw command from Basic.
A shape may be placed anywhere on the
screen, rotated, scaled, or drawn in dif-
ferent colors. A shape table can contain
one or many shapes. The information in
a shape table is a series of directions or
vector plots. Each vector determines
whether or not to turn on the current
pixel and which direction to move.

Still, as easy as it sounds, creating a
shape table is tedious and time consum-
ing. A much better choice is a program
that lets you plot out each step on
screen, edit it, and then save to disk as a
shape table. Pixit does this and does it
very well. By having Pixit do the leg-
work, you are free to concentrate on the
creative aspect.

Create-a-Shape prompts you for the
drawing scale, 1 to 4 times actual size;
grid or no grid options; and the starting
location of the shape. The same move-
ment keys used in the Picture Editor are
used here. I, J, K. and M plot one pixel
and then move over one pixel. The A,
W, S, and Z keys move the cursor one
pixel without plotting. The regular Ap-
ple cursor control keys are used in
editing. The right arrow steps the cursor
ahead in file memory, while the left ar-
row steps backward. control-B moves
the cursor to the beginning of the file,
control-E traces forward all the way
to the (you guessed it) end of the file.
control-X lets you change the drawing
scale, grid option, or starting location at
any time without distributing the file in

Pixel placement on the Apple screen
display.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Looks Like an IBM
Works Like an Apple

Jt-i.

€ r

To a land where fruit ^^ and flowers

supreme, comes the awesome power of the

Wildcat to challenge their supremacy.

Wildcat is a sleek styled mobile computer
designed for your vehicle, boat or aircraft. It
looks like an IBM PC"*' and is fully software
compatible with the Apple M rM product line at a
list price that would put a smile on the face of the
most frugal computer buyer.

But price isn't everything. All those features that

would cost you hundreds

of dollars extra from our

competitors, come

standard with Wildcat.

Let's compare some

of these features:

Apple lie

Wildcat

Detachable keyboard

STD

-ull numeric key pad

Option

STD

Full functions keys

3uilt in disk controller

STD

Parallel printer port

STD

RS 232 serial port

STD

Game port

RGB video out

Option

STD

Composite video

STD

RF video for TV

Option

STD

CP/M

Option

STD

Hi Res graphics (6 color)

STD

Low Res graphics (16 color)

STD

64KB memory

STD

Half high disk drives

STD

Converters for vehicles.

boats, and aircraft

Option

Aluminum carrying case

Option

List price

$1940"

$1099.00*

'Computer plus one disk drive

Warning: This equipment is exem; 'mg

nrements pursuanl to 47 CFR 15 801 (i
Operation ot this equipment in a resir}>

For more information on the all new Wildcat, see
your local computer dealer or call or write:

COMPUTER AND
PERIPHERAL PRODUCTS

1530 S. Sinclair
Anaheim, CA 92806
(714) 978-9820

IBM i

CIRCLE 181 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Apple Graphics, continued...

memory. control-F marks the current
cursor position as the last move without
disturbing the file in memory. This al-
lows you to delete all unwanted moves
from the end of the file in memory.
When you are finished plotting your
shape, you may compile it into a stan-
dard Applesoft shape table.

The final program is the Shape Table
Editor. This is used to build shape tables
of up to 128 shapes. These shapes can be
from the Pixit Create-a-Shape program,
from a standard Applesoft shape table,
or from another graphics package.
Available shapes are shown on the right,
and the new shape table on the left of the
screen. Load a previous shape or shape
table, and you are ready to begin build-
ing a new shape table. Select Add to
place a shape in the new table. Scan
through the available shapes to pick an-
other one for your table, or load in an-
other table to select other shapes. At any
time you may add, delete, or insert
shapes anywhere within the new table.

The documentation is good, taking
you through each part of Pixit with a
minimum of fuss. Pixit is not copy-pro-
tected, and is listable, so you can modify
the programs to suit your own needs.
Because Pixit uses a non-standard boot
program, the usual disk copy programs
will not work. Instructions for backing it
up are included. Pixit is an excellent
choice for the beginner. It is easy to
work with and forgiving of errors, and
the instructions and accompanying
tutorials are clear and concise.

The Graphics Magician

The Graphics Magician is a set of edi-
tors and routines that helps you create
graphics and animation for use in your
own programs. This package combines
the best of programs such as Pixit and
Flying Colors, though it is much easier to
use.

The Graphics Magician consists of two
main modules, the Animation system
and the Picture system. The Animation
system, in turn, is made up of a shape
editor, a path editor, and an animation
editor. Also included is a documentation
utility which prints all the information
and addresses for a finished animation
file.

First, create a shape. After answering
a few set-up questions, such as width
and height, the screen clears and shows
seven identical sections each bordered by
four dots and topped by an orange line.
Each of the seven sections makes up one
animated figure. For example, rotating
the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh
sections gives you a rolling figure when
animated. At the bottom is a list of com-
mands. Plotting of the shape is con-
trolled by the keyboard. After creating a

creative computing

SOFTWARE PROFILE

Name: The Graphics Magician
Type: Picture and shape creator and

animator
System: Apple II, II + , He
Format: Disk
Language: Applesoft and machine

language
Summary: One of the best, used by

the pros.
Price: $39.95
Manufacturer:

Penguin Software

P.O. Box 311

Geneva, IL 60134

shape, you may animate it to see how it
looks as it moves.

The next step is to create a path for
the object. Again, all movement and
plotting are cursor controlled. Plot the
path across the screen, editing it as you

One nice feature of
The Graphics Magician

is that a mistake in
drawing can be deleted
with a single keystroke.

go along. When finished, save it and go
on to the Animation editor. Here, you
are prompted as to which shape and
path to load. You may begin anywhere
along the path. When you are satisfied,
save the file and exit The Graphics
Magician. At this point, all you have is a
binary file on your disk. All you have to
do is write a simple, three-line Basic
program to run your animation.

Graphics Magician, a background scene.

The Picture System is almost as easy
to use. This system lets you create screen
pictures that take the minimum of stor-
age space — about 8K. Instead of remem-
bering the screen as a whole. The
Graphics Magician remembers the move-
ments used to create the screen. Since
the sequence is remembered instead of
the whole picture, size is kept to a mini-
mum, and the time to bload is
shortened.

You design pictures with a joystick,
paddle, trackball, or graphics tablet.
When you select the Picture editor, you
select the input device. Drawing a pic-
ture or scene with The Graphics Ma-
gician is similar to using the drawing
program of Flying Colors. You select the
brush size and color with the input de-
vice and toggle back and forth between
the selection screen and the page upon
which you are drawing. One nice feature
of The Graphics Magician is that a mis-
take in drawing can be deleted with a
single keystroke. You don't have to
throw out the picture and restart or
draw over the error. Pictures can also be
combined with animation files.

Included in this revision of The
Graphics Magician is a Hi-Res Text
Generator for placing text on the graph-

February 1984 c Creative Computing

hanks to a remarkable notebook-
sized computer made by NEC, you
can take your office with you any-
where you go. On a plane, on a park
bench, on the way to a meeting, or
even on a beach.

Though it weighs only 4 pounds,
the battery-powered, CMOS-based
PC-8200 packs a 16K/RAM memory
expandable to 96K. And 32K of ROM
expandable to 64K. You get a big
40-character/8-line screen. Plus

NEC gives you 14 free software pack-
ages to start, including an invest-
ment portfolio and word processing.

With its built-in software and
telecommunicating capabilities, you
can use the PC-8200 for word pro-
cessing, time sharing, data entry,
record keeping, and for electronic
mail. You name it.

It's made by NEC-a world leader
in computer and communications
technology.

NEC reinvents the office.

NEC

NEC Home Electronics (U.S-A). Inc.
Personal Computer Division

1401 Estes Avenue

Elk Grove Village. IL 60007

NEC Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

CIRCLE 144 ON READER SERVICE CARD

NEC beats the leading competition hands down:

NEC
PC-8200

Radio
Shack
Model 100

Hewlett-
Packard
HP-75

S799*

S?99

S995

RAM/ROM

16K/32K

8K/32K

16K/48K

RAM Expandability

(Internal/External)

To96K
(64K/32K)

To32K
(32K/none)

To24K
(24K/none)

Free bundled software

Yes

Function keys

RAM cartridges

Yes

Bar Code Reader,
RS232. Parallel Port,
Cassette Port

Yes

Not
Standard

Floppy Disk and SIO
Port, Cursor Cluster

Yes

Not

Standard

'Includes perpetual clock calendar
adapter charger optional

NiCad battery pack. AC

Productivity at your fingertips

QUARK INTRODUCES

CATALYST lie

The Only Hard Disk
Program Selector
for the Apple He and
Apple II Plus.

A hard disk makes your Apple He or 64K Apple
II Plus even more powerful. And makes you even
more productive. But you still have to load a new
floppy and reboot when you need to change programs.
And the more programs you have, the more time
you waste.

That's why Quark developed Catalyst'' II^^\
A unique ProDOS program selector that lets you switch
between even copy-protected programs. Without
rebooting. A few keystrokes move you from Word
Juggler He to your spreadsheet, then to your file
management system, and so forth. Just boot Catalyst He
when you turn on your machine, and you may not
need to touch another floppy all day.

The convenient menu lists the programs you've
stored on your hard disk, organized in any way you
wish. You can automatically install virtually any
programs which use Apple's new ProDOS operating
system* Including software from Quark. Apple
Computer and other leading manufacturers.

Catalyst He is an affordable $149. So see your
favorite dealer today for a complete demonstration.
And while you're there, look into Quark's other of-
fice automation tools for the Apple He and Apple HI.
Powerful programs that are easy to learn. And use.
At prices that are as intelligent as the software.

Quark, Catalyst and Word Juggler are trademarks of Quark
Incorporated. Apple. ProDOS and ProFile are registered trademarks
of Apple Computer, Inc.

For the name of the Quark dealer nearest you, call 1 (800) 543-771 1

•Not compatible with programs written for DOS 3.3, Pascal, CWI#
or any other Apple operating system.

Quark

^^^MH^M MtCOflPOItATBD

Office Automation Tools

2525 West Evans. Suite 220

Denver CO 802 19

CIRCLE 152 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Apple Graphics, continued...

ics screen. A binary transfer utility
prints the starting address and length of
a binary file and can transfer it to an-
other disk. Other utilities include Shape
Capture, which converts any part of a
high-resolution graphics screen into a
shape; and Shape Screen Start, which
lets you edit shapes created with another
graphics utility.

This isn't just a package for hobbyists.
The Graphics Magician is used to create
graphics in dozens of commercial games
and software packages. Since The
Graphics Magician is available for sev-
eral different machines, most of the
work done on one machine can be easily
transferred to another.

The Graphics Magician is unprotected
and listable, allowing you to modify it as
necessary. The documentation is exten-
sive and includes one of the most read-
able explanations of Apple graphics I
have seen. This is understandable, given
the author of The Graphics Magician.
Mark Pelczarski is one of the best
known names in Apple graphics.

Picture Writer

When I saw this in my office mailbox,
I thought, "Oh no! Not another bad
educational package. Maybe Betsy won't
remember she assigned it to me . . . "

Unfortunately, some of the educa-
tional software available today is ter-
rible. The tell-tale signs are: block
lettering, "artsy" covers, specially de-
signed packaging, and a tutorial featur-
ing more music and enthusiasm than
Schiller's "Ode to Joy!" Well, Picture
Writer has all of these, but it is not swill.
In fact, Picture Writer is an excellent
choice when you want to free your
seven-year-old from Pacmania. This
package delivers more than it promises.
Scarborough Systems describes Picture
Writer as software for drawing pictures,
playing with pictures, and learning by
drawing. It succeeds on all counts.

The Picture Writer work area consists
of a clean page with a strip of icons and
colors at the left. Although the icons are

supposed to be recognizable, they can be
confusing. Zap (erase) looks like a light-
ning bolt, but it can be confused with the
icon for Redraw, a squiggly arrow.

Selection is via the keyboard. For
example, suppose you wish to color an
area blue and orange. Press C for color
and the two appropriate color numbers.
For one solid color, enter the corre-
sponding number twice. The area where
the cursor tip rests is immediately
colored in.

The cursor is an interesting feature.
Two crosses represent the cursor. One is
the cursor tip; the other is the cursor
base. The distance between the two can
be adjusted with the < and > keys. At
first, this feature was an annoyance. As I
used Picture Writer, however, I began to
realize how useful this type of cursor can
be when doing fine detail. An editing

Doublestuff is an

extension to Applesoft

Basic that allows the

creation of double low-

and high-resolution

graphics.

feature permits the retracing of each
drawing step to see where you have been
and to redraw if necessary.

A music mode provides a note for
each step in the drawing. This can be
toggled on and off. It isn't a necessity,
but it can be used to prompt a child for
input. Each type of movement and color
has its own sound. Though not a full-
fledged music generator, this mode can
be fun to experiment with.

Picture Writer is packaged in a clear
plastic box that doubles as an easel for
the manual or command card. The com-
mand card is well-written and printed in

Picture Writer,
menu at right.

a complete scene with

creative computing

SOFTWARE PROFILE
Name: Picture Writer
Type: Picture creator
System: 64K Apple II, II + , He
Format: Disk
Language: Applesoft, machine

language, and GraForth
Summary: An excellent choice for a

child. Easy and fun.
Price: $39.95
Manufacturer:

Scarborough Systems

25 North Broadway

Tarrytown, NY 10591

large type. Finally, Picture Writer is un-
protected. Any copy program will back
it up. If you have ever had apple juice
spilled on a disk, you know how helpful
this can be. Scarborough Systems recom-
mends Picture Writer for ages 5 through
15. I think 15-year-olds may find it a bit
too elementary. The 5- to 7-year-olds
who tested Picture Writer for us had a
great deal of fun creating their own pic-
tures and modifying those included on
the disk.

Most educational software relies on
the "drill and practice" method of teach-
ing. I guess that is fine for some types of
learning. Picture Writer is different; it
doesn't talk down to children. It treats
them as equal partners in the learning
process. And because of this and the way
it is written, I don't think a child will
grow bored with it. If you are tired of
buying "twitch" games that are dis-
carded after a few weeks or "educa-
tional" packages that put your child to
sleep, try Picture Writer.

Doublestuff

First off, Doublestuff is not a graphics
package. It won't create shape tables,
animate shapes, or quickly create high
resolution pictures. Doublestuff is an
extension to Applesoft Basic that allows
the creation of double low and high
resolution graphics. It allows you to run
all Applesoft Basic programs with
double-resolution graphics.

Doublestuff loads into the same mem-
ory area as Integer Basic, yet is fully
compatible with every Applesoft Basic
command. Moving between Applesoft
and Doublestuff is as easy as moving be-
tween Integer and Applesoft. Just type
DFP at the prompt to enter Doublestuff.
To use the new graphics features, you
must have an Apple He and an 80-col-
umn extended memory card. Pins 50
and 55 on the card must be connected.
Apple usually packages the card with
the pins connected. If they are not, take
the small blue connector packaged with
thecard and follow the directions that
come with the card.

Double low-resolution graphics works
the same way as normal low-resolution
except that it operates next to the 80-col-
umn text portions of memory. What you
get is an 80 x 48 matrix with 16 colors
available.

Double high-resolution graphics are
different, since they take place in a sepa-
rate portion of memory. Normal high-
resolution graphics consist of 280 x 192
pixels. Each pixel is made up of 8 bits (1
byte). Only seven pixels show on the
screen for any pixel. The last bit is called
the high bit and shifts the pixel to alter
the color. With double high-resolution
graphics, the screen is 560 x 192 pixels.

February 1984 • Creative Computing

The beauty . . . the fascination . . . the romance
of all the world's gemstones . . .

Gemstones of the World

The Franklin Mint presents a complete and comprehensive collection
of the world's gemstones, each beautifully set into a solid sterling silver mounting.

Available only by direct subscription.

The accompanying application
should be mailed by March 31, 1984.

Since the dawn of history, men have
been intrigued . . . fascinated . . . even
obsessed by precious stones. And no
wonder! For each of the world's gem-
stones has been endowed by Nature
with its own irresistible allure, its own
inimitable magic. The bewitching radi-
ance of the Diamond, ablaze with in-
extinguishable fires. The rich red flame
of the Ruby ... the compelling blue of
the Sapphire ... the extraordinary bril-
liance of the Emerald . . .

Now, you have the unique oppor-
tunity to experience — and explore for
yourself — the full richness and diver-
sity of the kingdom of the gemstone.
For The Franklin Mint has brought to-
gether in a single collection exquisite
specimens of all the world's most treas-
ured gemstones. The collection will
bring you 63 different gemstones —
every one of those traditionally used in
creating fine jewelry, from Diamond to
Moonstone, Topaz to Lapis Lazuli.

Each gemstone will be set into a
solid sterling silver mounting. And dis-
played upon the silver, in rich frosted
relief, will be an outline map identi-
fying the country from which the prin-
cipal deposits of that gemstone derive.
Thus, the sumptuous red Ruby will be
set against a map of Thailand, Am-
ethyst will be identified with India, and
Moss Agate with the United States. In
addition, the reverse of each silver
mounting will bear both the name of
the gemstone it holds and data on its
gemological properties.

To enhance your pleasure still more,
each issue will be accompanied by an
authoritative commentary written by
Dr. Peter Bancroft, one of the world's
foremost gemologists.

Further, because this is the definitive
collection of the world's most coveted
gemstones, it will include not only the
classics known to all of us, but others
most familiar to jewelers and experts
— Citrine, Chalcedony and Rhodonite
among them. The result: a collection
that will be a source of endless delight
and satisfaction to the entire family.

WBSm

^mr. /""iff

1 ,I|)IS 1 .l/tlll

S.ipphirr

Ert

Khodpniti

Ruby

W*A

I ' 7 1

■ KM HMntu ^—^

H 10 !__^H

As a subscriber, you will be able to
build your collection at the convenient
rate of one gemstone each month. The
price for each gemstone in its silver
mounting is just $19, and this will be
guaranteed for every issue, regardless
of any rise in the cost of gemstones or
of silver.

Gemstones of the World is a com-
prehensive, educational and beautiful
collection comprising all 63 of the
treasured gemstones traditionally used
in creating fine jewelry. And to sub-
scribe, you need send no payment
now. Simply sign and return the accom-
panying application by March 31, 1 984.

A t u\tom-desigrwd display case wilt be provided to
the subscriber as pari oi the < olkition.

t IM4 f M
1

SUBSCRIPTION APPLICATION

GEMSTONES OF THE WORLD

Please mail by March 31, 1984.

The Franklin Mint
Franklin Center, PA 19091
Please enter my subscription for Gem-
stones of the World, consisting of sixty-
three different gemstones, each set
into its own sterling silver mounting,
to be issued to me at the rate of one
per month. A custom-designed collec-
tor's case, and reference material for
each gemstone, will be provided to
me as part of my collection.

I need send no payment now. I will
be billed at the guaranteed issue price
of $19.* for each gemstone in advance
of its shipment. . Wutm „ s , jr ,,.,,,,

Signature

AH. AW.ICAT.ON* Ml toajCCT TO ACC«*T»NC«

Mr.

Mrs.

Miss

CIRCLE 128 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Apple Graphics, continued.

axis remains the same. That isn't a fault
of Doublestuff, but a limitation of the 80-
column card. Still, as the examples
show, the graphics are striking.

Doublestuff comes with a short man-
ual and a reference card which explains
the difference between normal and dou-
ble graphics. The disk is not copy-pro-
tected. The sample programs are listable
for examination and modification. You
don't need Doublestuff 'to do double low-

Doublestuff.

Again, each pixel is 8 bits. The dif-
ference is that the high bit does not con-
trol the color or the shift. This gives a
more precise control over colors. There
are four prime colors in the double high-
resolution mode. By combining them, it
is possible to get 16 colors.

No special commands must be memo-
rized to use Doublestuff. All Applesoft
commands are valid. The only dif-
ferences are the X values when entering
a graphics command. For example,
when using normal low-resolution
graphics, plot 39, 47 represents the
highest values available. With
Doublestuff plot 79, 47 is valid. The
only drawback with these new graphics
is that the X-axis is doubled while the Y-

cpeafctve computing

SOFTWARE PROFILE

Name: Doublestuff

Type: Graphics utility

System: Apple He with 80-column

extended memory card
Format: Disk

Language: Applesoft and machine

language
Summary: Amazing! Double graphics

made easy.
Price: $39.95
Manufacturer:

Doublestuff Software
Development, Inc.

2053 W. 11th St.

Brooklyn, NY 11223

Doublestuff.

and high-resolution graphics. The in-
structions for doing it have been pub-
lished elsewhere. Doublestuff just makes
the process easier by taking the instruc-
tions and appending them to Applesoft.
So, instead of loading a program to call
these special graphics, Doublestuff keeps
them in memory for you. All you have
to do is toggle between the two modes.

These are just some of the graphics
packages available for the Apple. I think
they represent some of the best of what
is available. Each has unique features
that others don't have. Which one you
should buy depends on what type of
graphics you plan to do. One thing they
all have in common is that they make
Apple graphics a much easier task. ■

I/OOfflOR

lllcdid €nw

A Modern Day Fable (Abridged)

Once upon a time there was a very diligent man, Jack. One
sunny day, he traded in his family cow for a new computer
on which to do his taxes. At tax time. Jack ran his data file
but alas, his CRT proclaimed "10 ERROR." Then entered his
neighbor carrying the Discwasher® Clean Runner,. Inter-
active Drive Cleaner and told Jack "Preventive mainte-
nance will destroy dirt in the disk drive and keep it running
clean." With a clean drive, Jack's taxes ran perfectly. The
moral of the story: Discwasher Clean Runner is a disk of
prevention for a bit of frustration.

The End

Not all endings are that happy. A dirty read/write head
can cost not only many hours of time but also the loss
of valuable data.

O Discwasher* Clean Runner*. Interactive Drive Cleaner
is one disk that contains both the program software
and the cleaning surface. There is no program to enter.

O Clean Runner is an interactive system. It responds to
your individual entries as it leads you step-by-step
through the cleaning process.

O Clean Runner directs the head(s) of your drive to a
different track for each cleaning. Clean Runner provides
a contamination- free cleaning surface.

O Clean Runner effectively works on both single or
double- sided drives.

O Clean Runner is programmed for 20 cleaning opera-
tions.

discwasher

Ji Disk Of Pretention for J! Bit Of Trust ration

1407 North Providence Road PO Box 6021. Dept CC Columbia MO 65205 USA ADIViSIONOF JMMN

.in EbMARK Company

CIRCLE 123 ON READER SERVICE CARD

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Introducing
the first word processor
made especially for the home

The Personal Word Processor

TYPING AREA

VISUAL
MENU

1. A POWERFUL WORD PROCESSOR

* helps you be the best writer you can be

* at a fraction of the price of most others

2. EASY TO LEARN

* audio cassette guide to the basics

* instructions written in plain English

3. EASY TO USE

* pictures illustrate your choices

Home Word makes writing easy.

Changing what you write is even
easier. Since the commands are
illustrated right on the screen, you
don't have to memorize any
complex codes.

Yet HomeWord's simplicity is
deceptive. Although easier to use,
it offers you the power of more
expensive word processors!
Yes, HomeWord is the best buy
for your money. . .and the best
money can buy! HomeWord is
available for only $69.95 on the
Apple II, 11 + , He and Commodore
64. Coming soon on the Atari!

I dawonates a trademark ol Swrra On-Lirw. Inc. 1983 Sierra OnLine. Inc.

Features Include

add, move and erase
blocks of text
automatic outline indents
underline, boldface, upper
and lower case
reliable storage and
retrieval of all your files

automatic page numbering

print documents of

unlimited length

universal search and

replace

easy view of movement

through your files

ENTIRE PAGE
DISPLAY

Sierra On Line Building • Coancguld. CA W6I4 • I

CIRCLE 165 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Adot
matrix printer

that will
improve y3ur

image.

Meet the Apple* Image-
writer, the newest dot matrix
printer for your Apple fersonal
Computer.

And with all that it has
going for it, just maybe the
best dot matrix printer on
the market.

Take legibility, for
instance.

The Imagewriter crams
140x160 dots into each
square inch. So you get text
that's highly readable and high
resolution graphics, besides.

And is it fast.

The Imagewriter cruises
at an unbelievable
120 characters per
second. And that's
just in the text mode.
It's even faster
printing graphics. 180
characters per second,
to be exact.

What's more, the
graphics dump is up to
60% faster than other
comparably priced dot matrix
)rinters. And that makes the
magewriter fast enough to
landle die Lisa™

Yet it's just as at home with an
Apple III or Apple He. Thanks to Apple
software experts who designed the
control electronics to give the Image-
writer |)erfect compatibility. Not to
mention some special capabilities

APPLE PRESENTS Tri

E IMAGEWRITER APPLE PR

ESENTS THE IMAGEWRITER APPLE FRESEN1
S THE DMGEUUTEft APPLE PRESENTS THE DMCEMITEP. APPLI

like superscript and subscript, to
name just two.

Now, with all this high-speed
performance, you'd expect the
Imagewriter to make the Devil's
Own Noise. It doesn't. In fact,
the Imagewriter is specially-
constructed — with overlaid
seams and special sound-
deadening materials — to achieve
a remarkable 53 dB. How loud is a
remarkable 53 dB? You'd make
more noise if you read this aloud.

The Imagewriter even has quiet
good looks, since we designed it to
look like the rest of the Apple Family.
Yet even with all
its improvements,
the Imagewriter is a
betterdeal than an-
other dot matrix print-
er with comparable
performance. And you can print that

Chaise!

Go out there and get the Apple
Personal Computer System you
really want. Now. Without laying out
your extra cash. Without tying up
your other lines of credit. With the
Apple Card. The only consumer credit
card reserved exclusively for the
purchase of Apple Computers, peri-
pherals and software.

Like all our products, it works
simply:

Fill out an application (short, to
the point and annotated in English)
at an authorized Apple dealer
honoring the Card. Your salesperson
will call in the application and in
most cases get an approval for you
right on the spot.

You can then take your Apple
system home. You don't even have to
wait for the Card; we'll mail it out
to you. And hy the time you get it,
you'll probably be well into doing
whatever you bought your Apple
system to do.

There is no annual fee for the
Card, although a couple of restric-
tions do apply. The first purchase
must include an Apple Personal
Computer and you have to put 10%
down. And subsequent purchases
need to be at least $100 if made with
the Card. Oh, yes — you'll also have
a credit limit.

When you use the Apple Card to
make additional purchases, all you
have to do is show the Card ana sign
the invoice. As long as it's within
your credit limit, of course. Our
dealers get a little nervous when
someone signs for half their inven-
tory. You understand.

You'll also receive monthly
statements that include the latest
purchases, credit available, and die
minimum payment due. You'll also
be happy to know Apple Card credit
terms are affordable and the pay-
ments can be spread out. It's all

spelled out lor you
at the time your Card
is approved!

So stop by a participating
authorized Apple dealer and get
an Apple (lard. Just think of it as
credit wliere credit is due.

Giveyour floppy disks the boot

We call it the "floppy disk
shuffle.' - It happens when you have
two or more software programs on
floppies and you need to work with
both. What do you do? You put one
disk in, boot it, do your work, take it
out, put the other disk in, boot it,
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CIRCLE 186 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The State of the Language Arts in Computer Software

Growing Up
Literate

Part 3

Key Lingo

Not long ago (October 1983) we panned
an educational game from Readers Digest.
We called Chambers of Vocab "a tedious
maze game with little educational value."
and concluded by saying that we expected
a great deal more from a company bearing
the venerable name of Readers Digest.

In Key Lingo we found what we expected
from that company: a challenging edu-
cational game set in an amusing format.

The eight-page documentation booklet
begins with the tale that supposedly sets
the stage for the game. Most of it is
irrelevant to game play, but the key role
played by a piece of "tanned penguin
hide" shows that even employees of ven-
erable institutions can have a sense of
humour.

The remainder of the documentation is
sketchy and serves primarily as a pointer
to get you started with the much more
detailed instructions on the disk. The

Betsy Staples

creative compatiRg

SOFTWARE PROFILE

Name: Key Lingo
Type: Educational game
Suggested Age: 11 and up
System: 48K Apple II and He.
IBM PC

Format: Disk
Language: Forth-79
Summary: Vocabulary practice in an
adventure setting.

Price: $39.95

Manufacturer:

Reader's Digest Services. Inc.
Microcomputer Software Division
Pleasantville. NY 10570
(800)431-8800

instructions for playing the game are not
the best, but it took us only a few minutes
of playing the game to catch on. Anyway,
part of the challenge, as in any adventure
game, is learning how to play.

The islands have
unbearably corny

names such as

I Don't Care Atoll,

Exclamation Point,

and Saloon Lagoon.

Getting Started

After you boot the disk, you choose
from a menu which offers instructions, an
opportunity to enter your own words, and
three levels of play. After you choose
your level, you may choose to go over the
words with which you will be playing before
you start the game.

At the beginning of each turn, the hi-
res screen displays one quadrant of a map
of the Sea of Words. The islands are not
identified, and the only way to explore
one is to land your ship on its beach. You
control your little diamond shaped ship
from the keyboard.

Concerning the control of the ship, we
repeat the same comments and criticisms
we leveled at Chambers of Vocab: N, E.
S. and W may be nice mnemonic keys for
controlling direction, but they are intuitively
meaningless. The player engrossed in a
"swashbuckling vocabulary game" should
not have to stop and think which keys to

use each time he wants to move his boat.
Nor should he have to depress that key 10
or 20 or more times to get from one
island to the next. Since we are unaware
of any educational benefit to be derived
from repeated hammering of a keyboard,
we are at a loss to explain why Reader's
Digest refuses to make those control keys
autorepeat.

The islands have unbearably corny
names such as I Don't Care Atoll. Excla-
mation Point, and Saloon Lagoon, and
each time you land on one. the computer
displays an even cornier little rhyme. You
may then see yet another rhyme:

We need a word.

If under your hatch

You've not a match

We'll fill your hold

With gifts as good as gold.
The hi-res screen changes again, and you
see a sentence from which a word is
missing. One of the words from your
list will complete the sentence properly,
but you may not have that word in your
"hold." If you have the word and type it
in correctly, you trade it for a pile of
coconuts, the medium of exchange and
scoring in the game. If you do not have
the word and respond correctly that you
do not. the penalty is a harbor tax of only
five coconuts. You suffer a greater penalty

February 1984 Creative Computing

Growing Up Literate, continued...

if you guess incorrectly.

Other islunds offer an opportunity to
purchase (for coconuts, of course) ad-
ditional words, so you can buy a word
you need and return to the proper island
to trade it. A third type of island offers
definitions for words at a price of 30
coconuts each.

When you have collected 1000 coconuts,
you can search for Key Lingo and when
you find it, buy a treasure map, a trans-
action which entitles you to play a hidden
word game. You move around a matrix
of letters in search of one of your vocabu-
lary words— a bit anticlimactic.

The game may be played by from one
to four players, but we found it much
more interesting and effective when played
solitaire. The multi-player version seemed
somewhat pointless, providing neither ser-
ious competition nor encouragement to
cooperate. The sound effects, which can
be toggled on and off only at the very
beginning of the game when the disk is
first booted, are uninspiring.

At the end of the game, you have an
opportunity to review the words you got
wrong during play.

Adding Your Own Words

When you have mastered the 300 words
on the game disk, you will discover that
entering your own word list is simplicity
itself. You don't even have to search for a
formatted disk on which to save them:
they are saved right on the program disk.
You can add eight words at a time by
entering the word, a synonym, a 40-
character definition, and a 60-character
sample sentence. The only thing we found
to be other than self-explanatory was the
fact that the object word should be replaced
by a dotted line in the sample sentence if
it is to be used in the game. The program
automatically capitalizes the first letter of
the first word in your sample sentence,
but does not allow capitalization anywhere
else in the sentence. Punctuation marks
may be used.

The first time we used edit mode, halfway
through our list, the Apple keyboard took
a vacation and would produce only capital
letters— and those not related to the keys
being pressed. We reset the computer
and tried to play to see what the program
would do with the partial list we had
entered.

When we selected Personal Words for
the level of the next game, we got ten, II.
twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen for
a list. We tried the warm-up exercise for
that list, got definitions of the numbers—
"ten is greater than 9*'— along with sample
sentences for the words we had entered—
very strange. We never did figure out
where those numbers came from.

The only consistently negative feature
of edit mode is that adding new words
erases your old ones, so you can work on

only eight new words at a time.

Summary

We hope Reader's Digest will redesign
the control system for subsequent versions
of this and other programs. Our only other
significant complaint is one that probably
can't be cured: because all screens are hi-
res, there is an enormous amount of disk
access with accompanying delays of as
much as four seconds between screens.
We got tired of waiting, and frequently
found ourselves entering keystrokes before
the machine was ready to accept them.

Key Lingo does justice to the name of
Reader's Digest. The concept of the game
is good and should keep vocabulary learn-
ers entranced for many hours. It is clearly
a drill and practice, as opposed to teaching,
exercise, but it does a good job of what it
sets out to do, and could be used well in
either home or classroom.

Watch Your Language

When software is neither very good
nor very bad, it is difficult to know where
to begin an evaluation of it. There are
even times when one is tempted to begin
with a discussion of the packaging. This
seems to be one of those times.

What Part Do You Play?

is a good drill to force

students to examine

and identify the parts

of speech in context.

All of the programs in the NTS language
arts series come in rigid plastic covered
folders with a pocket for the disk and a
pocket for the documentation. Each game
on the disk has its own documentation
card printed in brown ink on coated card
stock.

The programs in the Watch Your
Language package provide drills on nouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions,
a concept we wholeheartedly endorse.
The presentation, however, is far from
sparkling.

Person. Place, or Thing concentrates
on the recognition of nouns in sentence
context. As the program begins, you are
offered a choice of three activities plus
ending the program. The first option.
Definitions and Explanations, explains the
use and functions of nouns.

Does This Word Qualify, the second
option, displays one of 20 sentences. Be-
neath the sentence, one of the words that
comprise it is displayed, and you are asked
whether or not that word is used as a
noun in that sentence. If you answer

correctly, the word CORRECT appears
on the screen; if your answer is incorrect,
you see the message YES, IT IS or NO,
IT IS NOT.

The third option. Find Them All, displays
the 20 sentences one at a time and asks
you to identify all the nouns by typing
them alongside the numbers that appear
beneath the sentence. Find Them All is a
good exercise which could have been made
much better by building in a bit of for-
giveness. If you make a typing error and
discover it after you have pressed ENTER,
you can forget making corrections.
You can re-enter the word correctly,
but the incorrect one will still be counted
against you.

The programs that drill verbs, adverbs,
adjectives, and prepositions function in
exactly the same way. Moreover, this
sameness carries over to their instruction
cards which all contain the same typo-
graphical error.

The best program on the disk is What
Part Do You Play? which drills all of the
parts of speech practiced in the other
programs. One of 20 sentences appears
on the screen with one of its component
words displayed under it. The program
then asks WHICH PART OF SPEECH IS
THIS WORD? and offers numbered
choices. You must choose the number
that corresponds to the correct part of
speech. If you choose correctly, the word
CORRECT appears on the screen; other-
wise, you are given the correct answer.

What Part Do You Play? is a good drill
to force students to examine and identify
the parts of speech in context. It is, how-
ever, severely limited, as are the other
programs on the disk, by the lack of ability
to add your own sentences. As we have
said before, we feel strongly that edu-
cational programs should provide this
ability in the simplest possible form.

Watch Your Language rates a B, pri-
marily because it recognizes the importance
of learning the parts of speech. The exe-
cution is adequate, if uninspiring, but at

creative computing

SOFTWARE PROFILE

Name: Watch Your Language
Type: Educational drill and practice
System: TRS-80. Apple,

Commodore 64, Vic 20
Format: Disk

Summary: Practice identifying parts

of speech; overpriced.
Price: $149

Manufacturer:

NTS Software
211 S. Orange Ave.
Rialto, CA 92376

(714)875-296S

February 1 984 c Creative Computing

Live the Fantasy and the Adventure.

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CIRCLE 168 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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here's a thrilling new twist - software Young people delight in the humor, play-
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CIRCLE 185 ON READER SERVICE CARD

RAWING
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CIRCLE 194 ON READER SERV

Growing Up Literate, continued...

$149 we cannot recommend the package
as a good value.

We reviewed TRS-80 versions of the
NTS programs. Given the greater graphics
potential of the Apple and Commodore
computers, we would expect a somewhat
more exciting presentation of the material
for those machines. We suggest that Apple
and Commodore users ask for a demon-
stration before making a decision on the
packages.

WordWorx

WordWorx from Reston Software is one
of the few packages we have seen that
makes effective use of the computer as a
tool for teaching spelling, a skill that
normally must be practiced by linking the
spoken and written word. It does this in a
rather roundabout but. we think, effective
way.

The package includes two games.
Myspellery and Sentence Maker, one on
each side of the disk. Myspellery is the
better of the two, and the one on which
we will concentrate in this review.

creative computing

SOFTWARE PROFILE

Name: WordWorx

Type: Educational game

System: 48K Apple II or lie

Format: Double sided disk

Summary: Challenging word game to
stimulate reading and
spelling skills.

Price: $34.95

Manufacturer:

Reston Software
1 1480 Sunset Hills Rd.
Reston, VA 22090
(800) 336-0338

Myspellery

The game is based on the fact that
many of the phonemes of which the English
language is composed can be spelled in
more than one way. The most famous

February 1 984 c Creative Computing

example of this is ghoti, which can be
pronounced "fish" if you pronounce the
gh as in cough, the o as in women, and
the ti as in motion.

The game begins with a display of a
word, such as ALYGHEARCEA at the
top of the screen in hi-res capital letters.
Two players can take turns guessing the
word, or one player can take the turn
of both players; there is no one-player
option. The word is worth 100 points
to the player who guesses it without
having to ask for a clue. As each clue is
revealed, the value of the word diminishes
by 10 points.

In every case, the first clue tells the
number of syllables in the word. The second
clue tells you what they are: AL-Y-GH-
EAR-CEA in the example above. These
clues are seldom helpful and serve mainly
to diminish your score. Subsequent clues
get down to business by specifying, one-
at-a-time, words in which the phonemes
are pronounced as they are in the word
you are trying to guess: AL as in alter, Y
as in lynch. GH as in ghost, EAR as in
hearth, C as in frolic, and EA as in beneath.

Myspellery is

challenging and

stimulating reading and

spelling practice.

The first player to type the word correctly
wins the number of points remaining in
the countdown. Each round consists of
six words, so a perfect score is 600 points— a
total we saw only once in our playtesting.
Myspellery is challenging and stimulating
reading and spelling practice. We like the
idea of using old fashioned phonics to
"sound out" words. Our only complaint is
that there is no way to give up and learn
the identity of a word that has you stumped.
Not that we are quitters, mind you. but
there was one word that we absolutely
could not guess, even with all the clues
uncovered. We "passed" twice in suc-
cession, and the game proceeded to the
next word, but we never found out what
the correct word was— and we still don't
know.

Sentence Maker

Sentence Maker is considerably less
inspiring than Myspellery. It requires you
to concoct as many grammatically correct
sentences as possible using a sequence of
five initial letters. The existence of a secret
sentence using the same five initial letters
adds interest.

For example, from the letters E B C T
W, you could create the sentence Every
Beautiful Carrot Takes Walks. Your op-
ponent could then type Elephants Bring

Cotton To Wales. Each of you would
earn 25 points for your sentence. This
exercise continues ad nauseam until some-
one stumbles on one of the words in the
secret sentence. That word then becomes
a permanent part of the construction, and
you must use it in every sentence you
make. You get to stop only when one of
you guesses the entire secret sentence; in
this case. Early Birds Catch The Worms.

There is probably some vocabulary build-
ing value in an exercise of this sort, and
as in Mad Libs, some of the sentences
were amusing — particularly to younger
players— but for the most part, we became
bored with Sentence Maker very quickly.
We found ourselves desperately guessing
every word we could think of without
regard for syntax just so we could get the
secret sentence and end the agony of
playing the game.

We also noticed that touch typists were
frustrated by the slow response to key-
presses when they were typing their sen-
tences. They frequently had to wait for
the computer to catch up with their
entries.

Adding Your Own Words

Adding new myspelleries and secret
sentences is exceedingly simple. You
merely choose File-Maker on the initial
menu of the game, and the instructions
lead you through the steps. You don't
even need a second disk, as the new words
are stored right on the program disk.

In the case of Myspellery. creating new
words can be just as educational as playing
the game, as you must specify not only
the word and its alternate spelling but all
the clues.

The games come with 150 words each,
however, so unless there is something
special you wish to practice, it will be a
while before you master everything on
the disk. In several hours of play, we did
not encounter one duplicate word or
sentence.

Documentation

The 16-page WordWorx instruction man-
ual is as complete as it needs to be. For
the most part, it simply elaborates slightly
on the instructions on the disk. It does
not provide any educational objectives.

Summary

We like Myspellery a great deal and
think that it alone is worth the price of
the package. We like to think of Sentence
Maker as a bonus program that you can
use if it strikes your fancy, but that you
should not feel compelled to play to get
your money's worth from the WordWorx
disk.

In Myspellery Reston has done a good
job combining a valuable exercise with
an entertaining format that should be
equally useful in home and classroom. X3

Product Preview:
Microsoft Windows

23 Computer Manufacturers to Support
New Operating Software System

Microsoft Windows is an extension to
the Microsoft MS-DOS operating system
that provides a universal operating en-
vironment for the new generation of bit-
mapped application programs. Microsoft
Windows will allow independent software
vendors to develop sophisticated graph-
ically-based integrated software packages
that run without modification on any 16-
bit microcomputer.

In addition to announcing the product.
Microsoft announced that 23 personal
computer manufacturers will offer Micro-
soft Windows with their systems, opening
up a large market for software vendors
who choose to develop programs based
on the Microsoft Windows concept. These

manufacturers include: Altos. Apple/Rana.
Burroughs. By tec /Hyperion, Columbia
Data Products, Compaq Computer Cor-
poration. Computer Devices. Convergent,
Data General, Digital. Eagle Computer.
Hewlett-Packard. Honeywell. ITT XTRA.
Mindset. NCR Corporation. Polo Micro-
systems. Radio Shack. Seequa Computer
Corporation, TeleVideo, Texas In-
struments, Wang Laboratories, and Zenith
Data Systems.

In addition, Microsoft Windows features
a window management capability that
allows a user to view unrelated application
programs simultaneously. Further, it pro-
vides the capability to transfer data from
one application program to another. Micro-

soft Windows provides these advanced
user interface capabilities for owners and
purchasers of mid-priced 16-bit
computers.

Portable Operating Environment

New application programs are using
enhanced bit-mapped graphics and a mouse
to improve the user interface of personal
computers. When MS-DOS was originally
developed in 1980, no allowances were
made in the operating system to manage
the interaction of these components of a
computer system. To successfully use these
hardware enhancements, application pro-
gram developers have been writing pro-
grams that directly address hardware, a

When Windows is first loaded into a system, the display screen
will have icons that represent the different application programs
and a cursor arrow that can be moved about the screen by a
mouse. The user activates an application program by moving the
cursor arrow over an icon and pressing a button.

A word processing document is loaded into a window. Note how
the window occupies the entire screen. The command menu for
the word processing program can be found within the window.
The remaining application programs are represented by the
icons found on the lower portion of the screen.

February 1984 ■ Creative Computing

complex, time-consuming task. This tech-
nique has significantly limited the number
of computers that an application program
could run on without extensive modifi-

cations.

Microsoft Windows is
the first truly hardware
independent operating

environment for
application programs.

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■Current tint is 11:18:47

Dm)

Miristic reasoning is reasoning net
egirded u final and strict but is
'visional and plausible only, those
■pose is to discover the solution of the
present problen. He ire often obliged to
use heuristic reasoning. Ue shall attain
cooplete certainty then « shall have
{obtained the conplete solution, but before
{obtaining certainty ue mist often be
satisfied «ith a mn or less plausible
guess. He nay need the provisional before
m attain the final.

Microsoft Windows will eliminate the
necessity to write application software that
directly addresses hardware by extending
the functions of the MS-DOS operating
system to include the management of bit-
mapped screen graphics and mouse hard-
ware. Consequently, a program that is
written for Microsoft Windows will work
on any system with the Microsoft Windows
operating software.

"Microsoft Windows is the first truly
hardware independent operating en-
vironment for application programs." said
William H. Gates, chairman of the board
of Microsoft. "Finally, microcomputer users
will be able to take their software and
plug it into any system, without worrying
about compatibility."

This portability is designed to appeal
to the software developers, who are ex-
pected to develop Microsoft Windows-
compatible programs because they will
not have to adapt software programs to
each different microcomputer. Gates
added. "Because of this universal appeal,
we expect Microsoft Windows to become
the dominant operating environment for
integrated software packages that run on
16-bit microcomputers."

Simplified Computer
To Human Interface

Microsoft Windows optimizes the bit-
mapped graphics and mouse capabilities
of a personal computer to provide an
intuitive pictures-oriented user interface.
This user interface can be customized by
a software or hardware manufacturer to
give each product its own unique look
without sacrificing compatibility.

Application programs that are activated
by Microsoft Windows will appear as one
or more windows on the display. Any
number of application programs can be
displayed on a screen and the user can
alternate between unrelated application
programs without restarting the system.

Microsoft Windows does not overlap
the different application windows. Instead,
application programs are automatically
positioned to fill the entire screen. Micro-
February 1 984 '- Creative Computing

Three applications windows are now displayed on the screen.
These include the word processing program, a graphics program
and the MS-DOS interface. A sample of a drop down menu is
shown in the graphics program.

soft calls this feature "tiling" and believes
that it leads to more effective use of the
display screen. Another feature of Micro-
soft Windows is "zooming." which allows
the user to display an application program
at the full size of the screen.

Microsoft Windows will be sold like
MS-DOS. adding little or no cost to a
system. The hardware requirements for

Microsoft Windows

will be sold like

MS-DOS, adding little

or no cost

to a system.

Microsoft Windows are: 192K bytes of
random access memory, a mouse, two
floppy disk drives and a bit-mapped
display.

Running Existing MS-DOS Programs

Microsoft Windows will run all existing
MS-DOS 2.()-based application programs
although these programs will not be able
to take advantage of the windows user
interface or data exchange capabilities of
the operating software. The operating
software can recognize that the program
is not a Microsoft Windows-based appli-
cation and. after saving the state of the
window's environment, will release control
of the screen and hardware to the appli-
cation program being started. Once the
user has completed working with the non-
windows program. Microsoft Windows will

restore its environment and resume oper-
ation.

How It Works

There are two parts to Microsoft Win-
dows, the window manager and the
graphics device interface (GDI). The win-
dow manager draws the window for each
client and manages the screen as a whole,
using a technique called automatic window
layout. The window manager is event-
driven: it passes hardware-level events to
its clients, and the clients supply procedures
to be invoked in response.

The window manager also provides a
library to user interface functions. The
facilities included in this library are menus,
property sheets, scroll bars, universal win-
dow commands, error handling, data inter-
change, and automatic window layout.
To display its graphics-based interface
features on a screen, the window manager
calls the graphics device interface. The
GDI can also be called directly from a
Microsoft Windows client to generate
graphics.

Virtual Interface To Graphics Devices

The GDI is a device-independent inter-
face between a program and various output
devices. The output devices may be vector
or raster devices. The program may be an
operating system extension, such as Micro-
soft Windows, or an application program,
such as a spreadsheet or word processor.
What the programs have in common is
the need to draw images on devices and
to be device-independent.

The GDI is designed around an "abstract
device." which is the collection of all the
functions that ultimately will be performed
by the actual graphics devices. (For ex-
ample, "draw a circle" or "change hatch

fP Apple II compatible

64K of RAM

Ulc Upper & lowercase

Typewriter-style
keyboard

12-key numeric pad

VisiCalc keys

50-watt power supply

Built-in fan

ACEWriter II

Sophisticated word processing that's easy to learn

ACECalc

VisiCalc "-compatible spreadsheet analysis
program with 80 columns of variable width

ACE Display card

Opens video display to a full 80 columns by
24 lines

ACE 80 CPU card

Allows you to run CP/M and Apple' II
programs

ACE Dual Interface card

Allows you to connect to local and remote
printers, terminals, computers and other
P^^^2 accessories

fy Apple II compatible

of RAM

Ulc Upper & lowercase

Typewriter-style
keyboard

12-key numeric pad

VisiCalc keys

50-watt power supply

Built-in fan

1982

1983

Good. Better.

And you thought Franklin
was qood before.

Well, look at Franklin now. You'll find our ACE product line has
grown . . . and grown. To include sophisticated word processing.
Sensational spreadsheet analysis. And an array of peripheral boards.
So you can expand the capabilities of your ACE 1000 as your busi-
ness needs increase. Our product line's not the only thing that's
grown. Franklin now has more than 1,000 authorized dealers
throughout the country. So, if you thought we were good before,
come see us now.

.__ , _ co-run • comromtriOM

Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc.

VisiCalc s a registered trademark of Visi Corp Better than ever.

2\2& Route 38; Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 Telephone: 609-482-5900; Telex: 837-385
CIRCLE 164 ON READER SERVICE CARD

FRANKLIN

Microsoft Windows, continued...

style" would be functions for devices to
perform.) When a function is called, the
GDI takes the function parameters, in
abstract-device terms, and passes them to
a logical device driver. A logical device
driver is the software that translates abstract
device functions into a sequence of device-
specific actions. These actions, communi-
cated through a physical device driver,
result in the appearance of graphics on
the device. The only device-specific code
is the physical device driver.

The language of the abstract device is
made up of "primitives." The primitives
are the calls to the graphics functions
available at the lowest level of the
GDI— the level of the logical device driver.
The primitives may be expressed in any
of the five high-level languages for which
the GDI has language bindings (C, Basic
Compiler, Fortran. Pascal, and Cobol).
In the Microsoft GDI, there are over 90
primitives in four functional groups: control
primitives, output primitives, attribute prim-
itives, and inquiry primitives.

Microsoft Windows "calls itself" in that
it uses the GDI to perform much of the
display functionality it provides to clients.
It is also quite legitimate for clients to
call the GDI directly, especially to imple-
ment graphics for applications, such as
business charting programs or mouse-based
"drawing" programs. Because the graphics
overhead is shared by all programs in the
Microsoft Windows environment (including
Microsoft Windows itself), the content
and efficiency of individual application
programs are enhanced. The Microsoft
GDI meets the emerging ANSI-VDI stand-
ard for graphics interfaces.

Exchange Capabilities

Microsoft Windows' clients run inde-
pendently of each other, but can exchange
data even if their data structures are
different. From the user interface point
of view, data exchange means taking data
from one window and inserting it into
another window that is running a different
application program. From the pro-
gramming point of view, it means finding
a common data type and interchange
protocol between programs.

"Most of the application packages that
are now described as 'integrated' can talk
only to themselves," says Leo Nikora,
marketing manager for Microsoft Windows.
"The programs have the same data struc-
ture, and their exchange protocol is unique
to that package. They can't exchange data
with programs outside the package."

Microsoft Windows integrates inde-
pendent application programs by putting
the data exchange capability in the en-
vironment, rather than in the programs
themselves. In its user interface library,
Microsoft Windows provides an extensive
set of predefined data types. These are
"uninterpreted binary," ASCII "text," and

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Microsoft's "SYLK."

Microsoft Windows supports two data
interchange protocols. One is based on
polling, in which one window periodically
queries the contents of another. If polling
is too expensive, a notification technique
is also available by which clients express
an interest in changes in other windows,
and Microsoft Windows notifies them when
a change has taken place.

Application programs can be designed
specifically to cooperate with each other
when exchanging data under Microsoft

Windows. The programmer can easily
extend the set of data types to include
types that add to the efficiency or ef-
fectiveness of the exchange. But the basic
mechanism for data transfer is part of the
Microsoft Windows environment. Without
this mechanism, independent application
programs would either be restricted to
certain data types, or unable to communi-
cate.

For more information, contact Microsoft
Corp.. 1()7(X) Northup Way. Bellevue, WA
98004. (206)828-8080. 32

DRIVE
CAREFULLY

When you add ( : your

option

drives that includes evi

low COS'

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For A(

Micro-So's Model A2 is r i superbly
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oft-

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For Apple in

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One option you'll never see on a

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2158 CA 92705 • (714) 662-2801 • TELEX 910-346-6739

CIRCLE 193 ON READER SERVICE CARD

YOUR PROGRAM HERE

IV ( hiplin ,hir*tir IkoucxJ by Bubbin. Inc.. S.A.

The best software for
the IBM Personal Computer.
Could it be yours?

Attention, all programmers. Here's a
chance to reach the top.

If you've written software that's completed
and runs on the IBM Personal Computer, we
could be interested in publishing it.

(We also could be interested if it runs
on another computer. If we select your software,
we'll ask you to adapt it to our system.)

But be advised.

Our expectations are great.

Because the software we publish must be
good enough to complement IBM Personal
Computer hardware. In fact, the more you take
advantage of all our hardware capabilities (see
the box at right), the more interested in your
software we become.

Think about incorporating color graphics
into your program, for example.

Use sound. Consider the power of our
keyboard and remember to utilize the ten
programmable function keys.

In all cases, we're interested in "friendly"
software — with emphasis on quality and wide
appeal. Programs with the greatest chance
of being published must be easy to use, offer
a better way to accomplish a task and provide
something special to the user.

What kinds of programs? All kinds.

Education. Entertainment. Personal %

finance. Data management. Self improvement* £
Games. Communications. And yes, business.

We select programs that will make the
IBM Personal Computer an even more useful tool
for modern times.

IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS

L'ser Memory
64K 640K bytal
Microprocessor

K.lm.HIHM

Auxiliary Memory

J .on. .ii.il nittTn.il
qMBBUg dilwus , 51 ,"

luiKH/IHOKHor
s-'<>KH/*>OKB

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HA krys. <> ft cord

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10 function keys.
10 key numeric pad
Diagnostics
Power-on silt ti-.iuiK
Pjnly itii.xking

Display Screens

Gilor or monoilii. flae
High r.-M >luu< »n
HO daHKsni x JS lines
I'ppt-r anil IcaMBf I Be
Operating .Systems
DOS, I nrl|l1|aHIII,
< i'AI H(>t

BASIC rascal. KMtnUN,
MM kc> Assembler,

com*

Printer

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tiraphiiMU|uhilin
ItiiiiriiTiorijl
80 iturjctcrsAeci md
w ctaaossr stfaBi

9x9 charaiUT nulrix

Permanent Memory
(ROM)40KbyUi

Odor/Graphics

k:\t nitxtf
In n .1. ITS
2V>ifur.iili-ts .mil

synibufi m K< )M
CrspPBJ HKMSJ
i resolution:

ilOb x 200v

hl.i.k \ iihiliri-.oUirion

640h x -'IK*.
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Communications
R&232< InterBase
SD1C \s\iulir. hi.«is.

Itisi in hroni »is pri x. o lis
t p li ) OMHI hits per si v. Hill

So, if you think your software is the best,
consider submitting it. If it's accepted, we'll take
care of the publishing, the marketing and the
distribution. All you have to do is reap the
benefits of our royalty terms. And you're free to
market your program elsewhere at any time
even if you license it to us.

We're offering the ladder. Think about
taking the first step.

For information on how to submit your
program, write: IBM Personal Computer,
External Submissions,
E)ept. 765 PC, Armonk,
New \brk 10504. ==== =

The IBM Personal Computer
A tool for modern times

For more information on
tUCSD p-System u a

to buy the IBM Personal Computer, call 800-447-4700. In Alaska or Hawaii. 800-447-0890.
of the Regents of the University of California. CP/M-86 is a trademark of Digital Research. Inc

CIRCLE 135 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Pixels, if you will. You're traveling
through another dimension. A dimension
of sight and of mind. A dimension not of
brushes and oils, but of light pens and
graphics tablets. At the signpost just ahead:
a new form of artistic expression. A twilight
zone, if you will, of artists and programmers,
with the artists gaining fast.

The resulting works continue to improve,
in style as well as sophistication. More
artists have begun to think about the ways
computers can create art.

Nor does it take a barrel of money to
create great graphics anymore. All it takes
is a machine like the Apple or Atari or
Commodore 64, some graphics software,
and an input peripheral. If you have a
color printer or plotter, a whole new realm
opens to you, but you may simply choose
to pipe your final output to a TV screen
and leave it at that.

If our magazine could show movies,
what comes up ahead wouldn't be limited
to mere stills. Next month a review
will appear of Movie Maker for the

BYTE

GALLERY

John J. Anderson

Atari, with which the user can create
animated images. In the July 1983 issue of
Creative, we reviewed The Graphics So-
lution, a similar program for the Apple
micro, though it is a bit more complex.
Both products offer an animation potential,
which would otherwise require a good
grasp on machine language, i the inter-
ested non-programmer.

In the realm of still graphic .. artists are
discovering that microcomputer generated
images need not be limited to the cliches
we have grown so weary of seeing. They
are developing individual styles; styles that
transcend the screens or printouts on which

Times Square. c Peter Joselow 1983.

the works appear. Speaking as folks who
have seen enough Lissajous curves to last
a lifetime, we are overjoyed at this turn of
events.

I don't consider myself any sort of
computer artist, but I do know what I
like, and I like the pictures that follow.
All of them were generated on Apple,
Commodore, or IBM computers with in-
expensive graphics packages. We could
have shown you works born of more
sophisticated systems, but the idea here is
to show off the lower end of the
spectrum.

Bill Bramble

Bill Bramble works with an Apple and
a KoalaPad, among other packages. His
work shows an emergent and humor-filled
style all his own. Girl Watchers is a good
example of the playfulness of his vision,
although I think I have seen those very
characters on the corner of Washington
Square and University Place.

Pre-Nova shows his ability with the

%«»♦

iystem Saver
Apple's
ipheralby

i m

one selling'
just a fan,

What made over 100,000 Apple" owners fall in
love with System Saver? The answer is simple.
It's the most versatile, most convenient, most
useful peripheral ever made for the Apple.

System Saver filters out damaging AC line
noise and power surges.

70-90% of all microcomputer malfunctions can be
traced to power line problems* * Problems your
System Saver guards against.

Power line noise can often be interpreted as data.
This confuses your computer and produces system
errors. Power surges and spikes can cause severe
damage to your Apple's delicate circuitry and lead
to costly servicing.

System Saver clips surges and
spikes at a 130 Volts RMS/175
Volts dc level. A PI type filter
attenuates common and
transverse mode noise by a
minimum of 30 dB from 600
kHz to 20 mHz with a max-
imum attenuation of 50 dB
You end up with an Apple
that's more accurate, more
efficient and more reliable.

SYSTEM SAVER

System Saver lets your Apple keep its cool.

Today's advanced peripheral cards generate heat. In
addition, the cards block any natural air flow through
the Apple lie creating high temperature conditions
that shorten the life of the Apple and peripheral cards.

System Saver's efficient, quiet
fan draws fresh air across
the mother board, over
the power supply and
out the side ventilation

slots. It leaves your Apple cool, calm and running

at top speed.

System Saver makes your Apple more
convenient to use.

No more reaching around to the back of your Apple
to turn it on. No more fumbling for outlets and cords
to plug in your monitor and printer. System Saver
organizes all your power needs

So if you want to keep
damaging heat, line noise and power surges out of
your system for good, pick up the only peripheral
that's in use every second your computer is in use.
The System Saver. You'll soon come to think of it as
the piece Apple forgot.

Compatible with
Apple stand

Haass stod -

.SYSTEM SAVER(S). S89 9b each Total $_

Include $2 50 lor shipping and handling
■ New York State residents add applicable sales tax

D Check enclosed □ Visa □ Master Card

Card No

Expires

Name on Card

Nam

It functions as a multi-outlet power strip with two
switched outlets. Plus System Saver offers the
ultimate convenience; a front mounted power switch
for fingertip control of your entire system.

| Address (UPS delivery)

I City State

I 251 Park Avenue South

I New York. NY 10010

I 486-7707 Ttx 236200 KEN UP,

PfaOfM

KENSINGTON

MIGROWARE

•Softsel Computet Products Hot List "PC Magazine March 1983
System Saver is UL Listed System Saver's surge suppression circuiuy conforms
to IEEE speciflcauon 507 1980. Category A Available in 220/240 Volts. 50/60 Hz

CIRCLE 170 ON READER SERVICE CARD

System Saver is a registered trademark of Kensington Microware Ltd
© 1983 Kensington Microware Ltd System Saver is patent pending

Girl Watchers. c Bill Bramble 198.1

human figure, and is highly expressive,
while evoking a strong feeling of three-
dimensionality. Galaxy Girl and Equinox
No.l indicate his mastery of the medium
of the color printer. Color printers such
as the IDS or the Transtar 315 have distinct
and peculiar limitations, and I have been
disappointed with some of my results with
them. Bill seems to understand how to
make those limitations work for him.
Galaxy Girl has a clearly new wave
feeling about it, a look which permeates
much of Bill's work. Equinox No.l is the
best original work I have seen which was
designed specifically to be displayed as a
color printout. Its feeling of movement
manages to convey the emotions of physical
exertion.

Peter Joselow

Peter Joselow also uses an Apple, and
has been experimenting with the Double-
Stuff system for the He. He used the

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Galaxy Girl. c Bill Bramble 1983.
82

Equinox No 1. c Bill Bramble 198.1.

Doublestuff board to create the Times
Square scene, which speaks for itself. The
double hi-res capability of the Apple He
transforms the Apple into a wholly new
graphics machine. We look forward to
seeing more from Peter as well as more
Apple double hi-res stuff soon.

Pre-Nova. c Bill Bramble 1983.

February 1984 ■ Creative Computing

■

*6&to<ri

«o

c o^ c °-

0«

N e <

' Apple is a registered trademark
of Apple Computers Inc.

l#P.

itf&l

#*%*#!%**%*

.,<||P^^

CTOnCJOR/ D&

CONCORDE PERIPHERAL SYSTEMS, INC.

23152 Verdugo Drive
[71 A) 853-2B50 Leguna Hills. CA 92653

CIRCLE 294 ON READER SERVICE CARD

PaintPk

The PaintPic system for the Commodore
64 comes to us all the way from New

Zealand, and is a very capable package.
The pictures GIGO, Storm on the Range,
and Room, came along with the demo

GIGO. c Kiwisoft 1983.

li^il

• Lutt "

H^HH

/?oom. c Kiwisoft 1983.

package we received, but unfortunately
had no artist's credit accompanying them.
The only data we have are the mysterious
initials D.J.R. to clue us in.

GIGO looks quite a bit like the main
corridor of Creative Computing during
renovation of the building. Room is just
about the nicest composition I have seen
on the C-64 to date.

Mike SuUivan

Mike Sullivan is a talented young artist
currently working with ISM, the firm that
markets the Fun with Art package through
Epyx for all machines mentioned above.
The pictures reproduced here were com-
posed on an IBM PC. Mike has a sure
and solid style, and a good grasp of the
care and feeding of hi-res pixels. His por-
traiture is reminiscent of Saul Bernstein.

As for the future, well it is quite bright.
Look for plotters to become more and
more involved in artists' work, and software
that allows for nested levels of detail. The
Robographics CAD-1 system is such a
package.

Look also for the composition of moving
images to become more prevalent. The
art gallery of tomorrow is a flat screen
TV on your wall. Static images are fine,
but perhaps best left to DaVinci and
Raphael. Dynamic art is a natural for the
computer— whether in real-time animation
or the single-frame variety.

Look also for the trend to continue to
add computer images to music video:
another natural wedding. You might even
imagine using your computer to create
your own music, then creating the animated
video to accompany it.

As I have asserted many times and in
many forms, a (possibly the) great ad-
vantage of computer art is its ability to
make you into the artist. If you have
some original work that you think we
should see, send it in. You may just make
the next show in the Byte Gallery.

Pictures, if you will! 32

Pete Townshend. c Mike Sullivan 1983.
84

Reggie Jackson. c Mike Sullivan 1983.

February 1 984 ' Creative Computing

An educational ad
about educational software.

Yf ou studied all the computers
and finally chose the one your
family found most useful. One
of the main reasons you wanted
a computer in the first place is to help
your children in school. Not just to
teach them how to use a computer,
but also to help them get good grades
in basic school subjects like reading
or geography.

That's why you should know
about AEC, American Educational
Computer - one of the country's
most important developers and
publishers of educational software.

You can help your child all
the miy through school
and beyond.

«k«UMwl

Look far our
display m
your/avorite
sottieare store,
and pick up
yvtur tree
iducatumal
leaflet.

AEC grew up on education.

The management of AEC started in
educational publishing, with collec-
tively over 100 years of experience
in the field. AEC knows curriculum
and how American education is
practiced in the classroom.
That's important because
children should learn at
home the same way they
learn at school. Other-
wise, you'll have a very
confused child, and con-
fusion is not the way
to better grades or
better learning.

AEC knows that
good grades are important.

Any educational software could help
school performance in some way.
That's because the computer is such
a patient teacher, giving instant feed-
back to questions and allowing chil-
dren to learn at their own pace.

But AEC software has an impor-
tant advantage. Our approach has
been student tested under actual
classroom conditions. So we know
it keeps the child's interest while it
teaches.

AEC gets parents involved in
the learning process.

With either AEC's
MATCHMAKEITor
EASYREADER™ Series,

you can take your
child through the grades
in subjects such as
Phonics, Word Attack
Skills, Reading Com-
prehension, Spanish,
' World or US Geogra-
phy, and Grammar. Our
teacher tested system

allows parents to enter material into
a lively, interactive format. And be-
cause AEC's programs are grade-
level oriented, you can help your
child all the way through school.

AEC doesn't play games
with education.

AEC programs do contain games, but
only as rewards for learning achieve-
ment. For example, once your child
successfully completes the objective
in the Matchmaker Geography pro-
gram, he or she can play an exciting,
action-packed
game.

Sure, the games are fun. But
they're not the basis, and certainly
not the primary focus, of any AEC
software. Our focus is stricdy on
learning. And isn't that what you
buy educational software for?
It you have more questions about
educational software,
contact your nearest
AEC educational soft-
ware center. And
thanks for being a
concerned parent^

AmericanEducatiorialQ)mputier@

2450 Embarcadero Way, Palo Alto, C A 94303

All AEC PnKhjtt*. art tiimpgttibfc- with Applt\* IBM" PC, Aun «)().- TRS8I 0UBlDdoR64 M I M ■fcnJftetOMMfKtuiCT'ktndenurfc « Nfpvfcci man u tdk-nurk.

CIRCLE 102 ON READER SERVICE CARD

1 TTT T 1

f - y ^^ w^ ^w

ESS

JUJ^ — \

JB PC»f» 1 ^

We don't care

which computer you own,

Well help you

get the most out of it.

CompuServe puts
a world of information,
communications, and
entertainment at your
fingertips.

CompuServe is the versatile, easy to use
interactive videotex service designed especially
for the personal computer user. It's dynamic,
growing and changing daily to satisfy
its subscribers' needs. It's an industry
leader, created and managed by
the same communications pro-
fessionals who provide busi-
ness information and
network services to
over one fourth of
the FORTUNE 500
companies.

From current events to current assets,

CompuServe offers a wealth of useful, profitable
I or just plain interesting information.
I Electronic magazines and national
news wires plus worldwide weather,
current movie reviews, electronic
^ banking and shop at home services,
and some of the most sophisticated
financial information available are
all offered to current subscribers.

From words to music. CompuServe offers
a communications network that gives special

interest groups from hardware enthusiasts to
computer composers a chance to get
together. There's a bulletin board
for selling, swapping, and
personal notices and a CB
simulator for real-time com-
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mail, the fastest, surest, way to
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or across the country, plus file retention and
editing, and lots, lots more.

Fun and games are expected whenever
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other CompuServe subscribers
anywhere in the country. Classic
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But, that's just the tip of
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If you'd like to know more about CompuServe,
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CIRCLE 107 ON READER SERVICE CARD

tipple

SAN FRANC SCO

As you entered Applefest you found
immediately in front of you the booth of,
you guessed it, Apple Computer. Not
much new to report there.

Apple certainly isn't writing off the
Apple III as the financial press seems to
have done. The available software for
the III seems to have taken a major
leap — or perhaps we just haven't kept
up. Available packages include The BPI
General Accounting System. Senior An-
alyst (a corporate planning tool),
VisiCalc. Quick File (a comprehensive
database manager), Apple Writer, Apple
Speller, Apple Business Graphics, Mail
List Manager, Apple Access (a commu-
nications package), Apple Access 3270 (a
3270 emulator), Micro/Courier (elec-
tronic mail program), Cobol (yup, the
real thing), Business Basic, Pascal, Script
III (a formatting program), and a
Record Processing Services package for
Pascal users — pretty impressive lineup!

Some of the Apple II hardware has
been repackaged in classier shells, but
we have previously reported on all of it.
Business Week may think that IBM has
won the small computer battle; as for us,
we think Apple has their act together as
well as anyone in the industry and, far
from writing them off, we think they will
continue to be a major contender.

We're sure the 108 exhibitors and tens
of thousands of showgoers agree. But
enough prognosticating. Let's take a
look at what is new in Appleland. When
you write or call any of these manufac-
turers for further information or to place
an order, please be sure to mention Cre-
ative Computing.

Would you like to make your Apple
into a transportable? If so, consider the
Portable 100 from Portable Peripherals.
This is a conversion kit into which you
transfer your motherboard, keyboard,

David H. Ahl

power supply, internal peripheral cards,
and disk drives. A 9" amber monitor
and fan are included in the $395 price.

Portable Peripherals, 45 North First
St., San Jose, CA 95103. (408) 945-8130.

Memory and Disk
Systems

Axlon was attracting a great deal of
attention with their RAMdisk system
for the Apple. It is available in two mod-
els (128K for $379 and 320K for $999).
In their demonstration, they were load-
ing hi-res pictures from the disk nearly

as fast as they could be displayed on the
screen (five slides per second). The
RAMdisk is claimed to be up to 50 times
faster than floppy drives and 10 times
faster than hard disks.

Axlon, Inc., 70 Daggett Dr., San Jose,
CA 95134. (408) 945-0500.

Hard disks seemed to be getting major
attention at the show. A compact unit,
the Infax 101 A, stores 10Mb and uses a
removable cartridge. This aspect means
virtually unlimited storage capacity. Av-
erage access time is 35 msec. The in-
cluded software supports DOS 3.3,
Pascal, and CP/M. The first drive with
controller costs $2395, an additional
drive is $1595, and removable cartridges
are $70 each.

p ^—

Portable 100 case.
1984 c Creative Computing

Vufax hard disk unit has removable
cartridge.

Vufax, Inc., 5301 Covington Hwy.,
Decatur, GA 30035. (404) 981-6778.

Another 10Mb hard disk is the
Trustor 10. Unlike other units, it has a
Xebec controller in the drive box, and
uses small interface adapters for various
computers (Apple, IBM, Compaq, Ea-
gle, and Columbia). Average access time

Datamac 10Mb hard disk works with
many computers.

is 85 msec. All standard operating sys-
tems are supported. $2295.

Datamac, 432 Lakeside Dr., Sunny-
vale, CA 94086. (408) 720-0800.

The Densei RD-5000 hard disk is
available in both 5Mb and 10Mb capac-
ities. Average access time is 75 msec.
The unit employs a Xebec controller and
is available for Apple (DOS 3.3, Pascal,
and CP/M), IBM (DOS 1.1), and TRS-
80 Model III and 4. The 5Mb unit is
priced at a modest $1290.

Micro Storage Technology, 41711 Joy
Rd., Canton Township, MI 48187. (313)
459-3822.

Not quite ready for a hard disk, but
you want more floppy capacity? How
about an 80-track double-density drive
from Micro-Sci? The Micro-Sci A82 has
considerably faster track to track access
than the original equipment Apple drive

February 1984 c Creative Computing

(5 msec vs. 18 msec) and 328K capacity
compared to 143K. DOS 3.3, Pascal,
and CP/M are all supported. The A82
can read all standard 35-track Apple
disks. Price with controller is $669.

Micro-Sci, 2158 S. Hathaway St.,
Santa Ana, CA 92705. (714) 662-2801.

Several manufacturers were showing
Apple-compatible slimline floppy disk
drives. The TDS Micro Drives come in
single and dual configurations (side by
side or stacked) and provide 35 or 40
tracks of storage. Their speed is impres-
sive; the manufacturer claims that they
are up to 800% faster than the standard
Apple drives.

Titan Data Systems, Inc., 2625 S. Or-
ange, Santa Ana, CA 92707. (714) 546-
6355.

Advanced Micro Technology was
showing a slimline disk drive for the Ap-
ple using a Panasonic mechanism. In
capability it is identical to the Apple
drive with 35 tracks and 140K capacity.
The big difference is the size (about 1.5"
high) and the low price. The show price
was just $185, which the manufacturer
has agreed to extend to people who write
and mention Applefest.

Advanced Micro Technology, 60
Connolly Parkway, Hamden, CT 06514.
(800) 243-4335.

Prometheus and Artsci were sharing a
booth to promote the combination of
Magicalc and 128K Expand- A- Ram
board. This is a great package for
spreadsheet users who are pressed for
memory space. Package price is $499, a
10% savings over the individual
components.

Prometheus was showing two other
new products. The P/S Buffer card
works with the II and He and allows
parallel or serial printing (selected by
software) while the computer is free to
process, compute, or accept data. The
16K version is just $125.

Prometheus had a new 1200-baud
modem with a real-time clock/calendar
and all kinds of intelligence built in. It
has auto originate and answer, intelli-
gent dialing, internal diagnostics, and a
help mode. $495.

Prometheus Products Inc., 45277 Fre-
mont Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538. (415)
490-2370.

Magicalc from Artsci is a second-
generation spreadsheet. It can use most
80-column boards, but alone can display
either 40 or 70 columns. Advanced fea-
tures include varying width columns, in-

visible cells or columns, automatic
formatting, and a user-friendly menu
system. $149.95.

Artsci was showing several other
packages in the Magic series. We were
impressed with Magic Window II,
successor to the original Magic Window.
It shows the representation of a piece of
paper on the screen just as you would
see it in a typewriter— basically, what
you see is what you get. The cursor mo-
tion and editing commands provide all
we could imagine plus some of which we
never dreamed. $149.95.

Magicalc from Artsci is

a second-generation

spreadsheet.

Artsci, 5547 Stasuma Ave., North
Hollywood, CA 91601. (213) 985-2922.

Add-On Boards

Titan Technologies (formerly Saturn
Systems) was showing their line of Ap-
ple boards. Attracting much attention
was the Accelerator II, a board said to
speed up the internal speed of the Apple
by a factor of 3% times. We watched
some massive VisiCalc applications run
faster than we had imagined possible.
The board has its own 6502 mpu, 64K of
memory, and fast language card. It is
said to be fully compatible with all exist-
ing software. List price is $599.

Accelerator II from Titan makes the Ap-
ple 3% times faster.

Titan also has a full line of add-on
memory boards for the Apple (up to
128K) and IBM PC (up to 256K). They
also have three extended 80-column
boards with up to 192K of memory for
the Apple He.

Titan Technologies, Inc., P.O. Box
8050, Ann Arbor, MI 48107. (313) 662-
8542.

You say you like the speed and fea-
tures of the Motorola 68000 mpu but
have an Apple? Analytical Engines has a
board, the Saybrook, a 32/16-bit co-

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ensure that We won't let you fail 1
Dual microprocessors deliver 16-
bit speed and 8-bit compatibility
The industry standard S-100 card
slots allow a host of peripherals
and memory expansion to 768K
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A high-density (320K) 5 25" drive
is standard Powerful options in-
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See the world s first
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KEYBOARD

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GRAPHICS

Always in graphics mode

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Two RS-232C Serial

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SOFTWARE

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Applefest, continued.. .

processor which provides Apple users
with the speed and power of a micro-
mainframe with 128K of RAM (expand-
able to 512K). The board has the 8 MHz
version of the 68000 which can be up-
graded to 12.5 MHz for speed-critical
applications. In addition, five on-board
counter/timers provide a 24-hour time-
of-day clock and operating system for
multiprocessor support.

The Saybrook software includes the
UCSD p-system for Pascal, Basic, For-
tran-77, and 68000 assembler. CP/M-
68K and UNIDOS (a Unix system) are
available as options.

Analytical Engines, Inc., 3415
Greystone, Austin, TX 78731. (512)
346-8430.

Our friends at Quadram were showing
their complete line of boards for the
IBM PC (how come at an Apple show?)
along with several Apple boards, buffers,
and a new color monitor.

The latest Apple board is Multicore, a
multifunction card designed to take
advantage of ProDos, Apple's new
operating system. Of course, it works
with DOS 3.3 as well. The board has
sockets for additional memory (up to
128K), parallel and serial ports, real-
time clock, and RAMdisk software
which allows you to use part of your to-
tal system memory as a disk drive. It is
compatible with all software and re-
places the Apple language card. Price is
$395 for the 64K version, $495 for
128K.

Redicore is similar to Multicore but
does not have the RAMdisk software; it
comes in OK, 16K and 64K versions with
prices from $249 to $379.

Transcore is a board with serial or
parallel printer interface, communica-
tions interface and menu-driven software
for various I/O configurations. List
price is $199.

Quadram also has two nifty color
boards for the IBM PC and XT,
Quadcolor I and II which provide the
same functions as the IBM color board
with several extended features. Prices
start at $275. The Quadchrome color
monitor is a high-quality RGB color
monitor capable of 16 colors with 690 x
480 pixel resolution. Cost is $695.

Quadram Corp., 4355 International
Blvd., Norcross, GA 30093. (404) 923-
6666.

Buffers and Interfaces

Of printer interface fame, Pkaso was
showing a new universal parallel printer
interface for the Apple II, lie, and III.
Seemingly, it does everything; with one
command, it dumps text, low-res, and

February 1984 c Creative Computing

CIRCLE 132 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Instant one -button color printing.

COPY

Press here.

It's just that easy! Any time you want to print what's on your
Apple's screen just hit the copy button on your Transtar 315
color printer with our PICS card installed, and it's done! No
special programming, no lengthy code sequences, no need to
exit your program! Just press the button and it prints!

By adding the optional PICS card to your $599 Transtar 31 5
color printer, you've opened up a whole new world of easy color
printing. For the first time ever, our PICS parallel interface card
enables you to screendump virtually any program -- graphics,
charts, games -- even copy-protected software! Specially design-
ed only for the Apple II, II+, lie, and Franklin computers, the
Transtar 315 PICS card does the work of a parallel card and a
lot more and costs only $1 19.95.

At the push of a button, Transtar's innovative new 4-color dia-
gonal ribbon will print up to 7 colors and more than 30 shades
in a single pass.

The 315 is precision-built to exacting standards by Seikosha,
the most experienced company of the famous Seiko group-
recognized worldwide for quality and dependability. In fact,
one of the nicest things about Transtar's 6-month warranty
on parts and labor is that you'll probably never use it!

Innovative, inexpensive, dependable, easy: the Transtar 31 5.
Color printing has never looked so good!

Only $599.

"PICS card* are currently available lor Apples and Fianklim.
PICS card* to« other computet* will be available in the future.

Transtar

A Vivitar. Computer Product

P.O. Box C-96975, Bellevue, WA 98009
CIRCLE 236 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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Applefest, continued...

hi-res images to both color and B&W
printers. Moreover, it has the ability to
print gray scales as found on digitized
images. We were impressed with the
capability to print on the printer three
times the resolution that the computer
itself is capable of displaying.

The Pkaso/U has many other features
as well: margin control, user-defin-
able macros, windowing print areas,
stretched graphics in either direction,
and a font system for design and use of
special characters and symbols.

Also being shown was the Shuffle-
Buffer Parallel or Serial printer buffer
with all kinds of nifty features. For
information on all Pkaso products, con-
tact Interactive Structures Inc., 146
Montgomery Ave., Bala Cynwyd, PA
19004.(215)667-1713.

Also showing an enhanced version of
a very successful product was Orange
Micro with the Grappler-l- printer inter-
face. The new version has buffering
(16K, 32K, or 64K) and color screen
capabilities. Moreover, it can duplicate
the Apple He 80-column text screen on
the printer and allows all kinds of text
manipulation, as well as graphics
manipulation.

Users of the existing Grappler can add
the buffering features with the add-on
Bufferboard.

But perhaps, you don't need graphics
printing capability; then the Orange
Printer Interface may be the answer. It
has all the text dump features of the
Grappler boards (40- and 80-column
screen dump, set page length, set mar-

graphics printer card. Graphmax is
compatible with the Grappler-l- card
but has several extras such as zoom
magnification up to 99 times, picture
cropping, auto page numbering, and a
wide range of aspect ratios. Price
$159.95.

Micromax was also showing Cubit, an
excellent derivative of Q*bert. To suc-
ceed at Cubit, you need a good strategy
as well as nimble fingers. $39.95.

Micromax Systems, Inc., 6868 Nancy
Ridge Dr., San Diego, CA 92121. (619)
457-3131.

Keyboards

CCP was showing an expanded line of
Keywiz keyboards for the Apple. We
were impressed with the Keywiz VIP
(Very Intelligent Peripheral). It has 62
user-definable keys and can store up to
four keyboard definitions in its own

Franklin 1000 and 1200. Either costs
$299.

Creative Computer Peripherals, 1044
Lacey Rd., Forked River, NJ 08731.
(609) 225-0091.

A marvelous new add-on keyboard
with plug-in PROMs for instant recon-
figuration was being shown by ESP. The
unit has 100 full-stroke keys divided into
six sections: standard alphanumeric, nu-
meric keypad, cursor movement keys,
function keys, and two sections of spe-
cial keys.

PROM cartridges are available for
many software packages including
WordStar, VisiCalc, Applewriter II,
Screenwriter II, and many others. Basic
and DOS are built into the basic unit. It
has a six-foot coiled cord permitting lap
operation. The basic unit plus interface
lists for $349; PROM modules are
$29.95 each.

EPS keyboard has PROM modules for use with various software packages.

Executive Peripheral Systems, 800
San Antonio Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303.
(415) 856-2822.

Zicor keyboard has microprocessor and 8K of memory

gins, and more) at the modest price of
$99.

Orange Micro Inc., 1400 N. Lake-view
Ave., Anaheim, CA 92807. (714) 779-
2772.

Micromax was showing five Apple
cards including their new Graphmax, a

memory. With it, you could define your
own personalized keys for, say, VisiCalc,
Pascal, Basic in Spanish, and numeric
data entry. $439.

The Keywiz 83 is specially designed
for VisiCalc or Magicalc, various word
processors, and numeric data entry. The
Convertible model handles VisiCalc and
Applewriter II, and works with the

Another detachable intelligent key-
board is the OmegaBoard II from Zicor.
It has a built-in 6504 mpu, 8K of
EPROM memory, and 4K of RAM.
This 1 1 5-key unit includes a type-ahead
buffer, 32 function keys, each one of
which can represent up to a 31 -character
user-definable command. Suggested re-
tail is $429.95.

Zicor, Inc., 2296 Cascade Plaza
North, Woodbury, MN 55125. (612)
731-1762.

A novel approach to add-on key-
boards is that taken by Polytel with
their Keyport 717. We originally saw
this unit at the SICOB show in Paris
where it got an excellent reception. The
basic unit has a flat membrane surface
with a whopping 717 user-programma-
ble positions. Each command has its

February 1 984 c Creative Computing

■■

EPYX GAMES

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If you're one of those EPYX
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Between now and February 29,
1984, we're offering you any computer
game from this list. . . absolutely free.

It's simple. Just buy one of our
computer games from your local retailer,
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epyx

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CIRCLE 125 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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/.ip

Applefest, continued.

8 Ui

aaaaauaaaa muh .
□ oooDDoaDaiiiou
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Educational overlay on Polytel 71 7 flat keyboard.

own key, the function of which is in-
dicated by words, symbols, or pictures,
so the user does not have to learn a lan-
guage or respond to menus. The active
surface of the Keyport 717 measures 9"
x 22". It does not require an interface
card, but connects to most computers
through the gameport.

Several overlays with software are
available for the Apple including ones
for Basic programming, VisiCalc. and
education (called "The Farm"). Price is
a modest $125 for the 717 and $25 for
each overlay with software.

Polytel Computer Products, 2121 S.
Columbia, Tulsa, OK 74114. (918) 744-
9844.

Analog Input

Transensory Devices had a model
steam generator at their booth hooked to
five sensor modules that continuously
monitored steam pressure, water tem-
perature, generator output, fuel tem-
perature, and water level. The sensors
were hooked in a daisy chain (up to 32
sensors with 100-meter separation) and
then to the RS-232 port. Each sensor has
an 8-bit dynamic range, 900 Hz band-
width, and 0.4% accuracy. Price per
sensor is only $150. It looks to us as
though this could open up a great array
of new applications for small computers.

Transensory Devices, Inc., 44060 Old
Warm Springs Blvd., Fremont, CA
94538. (415) 490-3333.

Modems

So you want to make a nightly call to
your favorite computer bulletin board,
but don't have a modem yet. How about
the Transend Apple modem card? This
is a direct-connect, 1 10/300 baud, auto
dial/auto answer unit that supports both
touch tone and pulse dialing (some oth-
ers don't, you know). It all fits on one
card in the Apple case, and comes with a
six-foot cord that plugs into any modu-
lar telephone jack. The list price of $325
is a bargain considering that it includes

So you want to make a

nightly call to your

favorite computer

bulletin board, but

don't have a modem

yet. How about the

Transend Apple

modem card?

$100 of time/services on The Source. If
you really want the top-of-the-line, take
a look at the TransModem 1200, a smart
1200-baud unit.

Transend Corp., 2190 Paragon Dr.,
San Jose, CA 95131. (408) 946-7400.

Okay, so you like tigers and jungle
cats. Novation was giving out some nifty
tiger stickers to promote their line of Cat
and Smart-Cat modems. We have al-
ways been impressed by the high quality
Novation line and like the idea of a 24-

hour on-line hot line (dial (213) 881-
6880 and type CAT after the LOGIN
PLEASE message).

Obviously, a big attention-getter at
Applefest was the AppleCAT II and 212
modems. These are plug-in cards with
1 10 and 300 baud speeds (1200 baud at
half duplex); automatic dial, answer, and
disconnect; message hold; printer port;
and the ability to use the modem as an
ordinary telephone (with the addition of
an optional handset). It can turn on de-
vices through a BSR X-10 controller too!
Prices start from $389.

Novation's other modems, particular-
ly the new J-Cat and 212 Auto-Cat were
getting their share of attention also. J-
Cat is a real miniature job (5" x 1.9" x
1.3"), but has manual or auto answer,
status indicators, self-test, and many
other features for just $149.

Novation, Inc., 20409 Prairie St.,
Chatsworth, CA 91311. (213) 996-5060.

Speech Synthesis

Street Electronics had their Echo II
speech synthesizer board talking to pass-
ersby in a new seductive female voice in
addition to the "normal" male voice.
The package consists of a small circuit
board, a disk with demonstration and
utility programs, and a comprehensive
manual. It is exceptionally easy to use
with the text-to-speech program with al-
gorithms for over 400 language and
pronunciation rules.

The Echo II has 63 pitch levels, 15
volume levels, adjustable rate of speech,
inflection or flat tone, and several other
features to make it sound more nearly
human. $149.95.

Street Electronics Corp., 1140 Mark
Ave., Carpinteria, CA 93013. (805) 684-
4593.

Steam generator was being monitored by five Transensory Devices sensors.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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HARDWARE ForThe APPLE II+/IIe

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* Cod Comoow? $379 $ 2n

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NEC 12 Green Mrjde<jBt20IM S 749 S 159

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CASH & CARRY OUTLETS:

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THE IBM-PC SUPPLY CENTER

CM rs i trademark ol fJM Corporason

256K
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System Includes

Two 320K Disk Drives by CDC

90 Day Warranty By Us

Call For Details And

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5 400

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5 250
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S350

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PRICE
$ IIS

$395
$ 20
$ 12
$395
$ 191
$295
S 295
$195
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$ 329
$ M
$ 279
$ 239
S 525
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$ 421
$ 109
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S 191
S 115

BUSINESS

AMKRC^OFTIAurlpari

rVorrJ •*««*•
FtnAnorXSMMmenl

LIST
PRICE
S275
$375
$475
$ 100
$ <50
$ 1(5
$250

MONOGRAM DoUntSenM

NORTH AMERICAN HIS TheArweer

* OSBORNE COMX iBooAtBVamns

SUttacs > Men Piogiam. on DS DO Osk.i

Some Ccrw Base Prog 170 eacri; $100

PraOcalBMcPraa'amiiAOaaoril $ 100

PBLCC4tPOMI10IIP».y»urveswi ' S 145

PEACHTRCE Pracf P» U AflSAPi $395

Poac»Te<150OO $ 395

PEARLSOFT PervnmPe^iOBMSsMISi S 295

• PERFECT PerKciyVnu-' 5 399

PwledSpeWr-orPerleetCat' fact. $295

Wnar ■ Spaler 2P» 5 695

ParteaFter- S 595

SOFTWARE ARTS TK'Sow $299

SOFTWARE PIJBUSHrNG PES F*e $140

PESReuon
PFSWrW

PFSGrapn

SORCIM Suc«rC«ll

SuperCKM

SSISATELUTE

STCSOFTEC TreCnatx
STONEWARE AO/arxecl D B MasMr

srNAPSe.FwMenaaer
SYNERGISTIC Djr^eoone.
T MAKER T Maker III
VtSFCORP VsiCAC.4

V«jF«eorV*ScneoJe

DesloopPlanl

$ 125
NEW S 140

icw $ 140

$295
5395
5 495

S I9S
$300
$595
S 100
$ 250
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S 300
$300

OUR
PRICE
$175
$275
$339
$ ft
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t 110
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$239
$195
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$1(9
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$ 171
$219
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$2(9

V«..W.«rw*Vis.Spe--it2BK. S 175

UTILITY & SYSTEM

1983 CL SOFTWARE AWARD:

Copy li PC PvCerfia: Port Software is sun the be* software
buyol 'Warn) 1914 n» CDPymort'XPy proietlM software
art lasw man any o»»t Backup system Urwke other topers
a makes an aud dupaeale ol your ongrrwjand 4 does 109%

rer*cation ol copy Documerruaori rsercewem

• CEIITRALr>Crrl(TCopyllPCBao.* 5 40 $ 35

• COMX Fassak- RAM ftv. emmaw jrw ptrte.
rasxlai program yVorks on arty PC DOS versce. or RAM
CM M-uDrw S IX $ 59

UTILITY & SYSTEM

LIST
PRICE
LKGHAL RESEARCH

ConcurremCPM*;- $ 350

CBASCH* $ 200

CPkMC $ 60

Pascal MT • iCPM 86;. $400

Pasta Ml IMSDOS; $600

PLIlMSOOSl $ 750

Access Manager iMSOOS S ago

Cti0ayMjriagor|MSOOSl $ 500

SpaadPng Ag iCPM-M' 5 200

cisccea » $ tso

OR LOG096 $ 100

CB»SICCorr(,«,i86o.MSDOS eacf; S 600

IUY«Smarlrxm»IDalaCort»«| $111

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S 300

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S395
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Buswss BASIC Comowr
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BASIC Werprek-
k|ORTONrtortonLI)raaes2014r»xaamj $ SO
ROSESOFT Prtrkey $ "

OUR
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$399
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$ St
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S 179
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$225
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S 49

HOME& EDUCATIONAL

EPYX Auto San. lerroeol Apshl $ 40

O'EWd^ $ 100

• AJrMONK ErecoHveSjite $ 40
rJLUECMa»M-«wecrryr<joneac). S SO
BPI SYSTEMS Persona Ar.ouokry, $ 195

• S«00€IMMa)OA«>eP*w:iC<«r, $ 30
COMaakjjHENSMFVCTiAoriDOSni $ 60
CONTINENTAL HonreAarurtara ■ $ ISO
DATAMOST P^PwotSpaotSa** ea S X
DAVIDSON TtvScraodRaarlera | 75
axfOCOM LNrarArreorSUSPENOED ea S 50

ZorklorZorkaorZorkllsa $ 40

• INSOFT AnrdlMorOwglni eace NEW 5 35
MCRO LAB Uner 2049 S 40
MICROSOFT E<r»S«nu «o $ 50
klONO&RAM Dcrtari ibew $ 1(5
FBI CORP. Persona k-reslor 5 145
St^lNA|r«SnooparTroop>|lor2) S 45

'.•^,u.»r.-*«l.eM».< I at
STRATEGIC ttWarpFador

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$ 29

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• Means a BEST buy.

AD #987

1983 by Conroy-LaPointe. Inc. All rights reserved.
CIRCLE 112 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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CIRCLE 101 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Applefest, continued.

Dynax/ Brother HR-2S connected to our Model 100 printing out Applefest notes.

Printers and Plotters

Dynax, the U.S. distributor for the
Brother product line, was showing two
daisy wheel printers. We printed some
text from our Model 100 on the Brother

We printed some text

from our Model 100 on

the Brother HR-25 and

were most impressed

with the excellent

print quality.

HR-25 and were most impressed with
the excellent print quality. The unit has
a 3K buffer, two-color printing, graph-
ics, boldface, super- and subscripts, dou-
ble strike, underline, and proportional
spacing. Print speed is 23 cps. It handles
paper up to 16.5" wide and uses either
friction or optional tractor feed. Price is
a surprisingly modest $999.

If that's still too much, the DX- 1 5 is
priced at just $599 and has virtually ev-
ery feature of its big brother (no pun in-
tended). The main differences are print
speed (13 cps) and maximum paper
width (13.5"). In addition, the DX-15
has an optional keyboard so it can be
used as (surprise!) an electric typewriter.

Dynax, Inc., 5698 Bandini Blvd., Bell,
CA 90201. (213)260-7121.

So you like pictures better than
words — the Sweet-P plotter was draw-
ing them at a rapid clip. It uses roll or

February 1984 c Creative Computing

single sheet paper (normally 8'/ 2 " x 11")
and has a step size of 0.004". It has a
rich command set of relative and ab-
solute commands and is compatible with
the Apple, IBM PC, and CP/M ma-
chines with a Centronics interface. A
friendly feature of Sweet-P is the soft-
ware which permits you to make plots
easily from commercial packages such as
VisiCalc, Apple Business Graphics, and
Lotus 1-2-3. Price is $795.

Enter Computer, Inc., 6867 Nancy
Ridge Dr., San Diego, Ca 92121. (619)
450-0601.

Another plotter which we have men-
tioned previously but have not yet tested
is the Roland DXY800. This is a flat bed
unit capable of handling paper up to 11"
x 17". Step size is 0.1mm, and it uses
eight pens for dramatic color effects. It
includes both a parallel and serial inter-
face and has a wide variety of commands

to make plotting almost as easy as draw-
ing. The 8-color version -osts $995, and
the one color unit is $750. Watch for a
review.

Roland Corp., 7200 Dominion Circle,
Los Angeles, CA 90040. (213) 685-5141.

Accessories

Looking for a little added comfor. for
long data entry sessions witn your Ap-
ple? Oak Rest is a wrist rest that clamps
in front of the Apple and is said to
significently reduce fatigue and arm
pain. It is also nifty looking and is sure
to get people asking. "What's that?" List
price is $34.95.

Applause, 20440 Williams Ave., Sara-
toga, CA 95070. (408) 741-1 124.

The Magellan light pen is an interest-
ing new accessory for the Apple. It ca i

Magellan light pen can make screen spa-
ghetti (or it it graffiti?)

produce drawings in the high resolution
mode (one pixel accuracy), at very high
speed (60 updates per second). The unit
is interfaced via a small electronic mod-
uie into the game port, but it is transpar-
ent to joysticks or game controls (how

The space shuttle as drawn by Sweet-P.

101

Applefest, continued...

do they do that?). We saw it being dem-
onstrated on a large 23" TV set with all
kinds of overhead and background light-
ing on the show floor, yet the pen was
performing flawlessly. $189.95.

Magellan Computer, Inc., 4371 E.
82nd St., Indianapolis, IN 46250. (317)
842-9138.

The folks at one booth asked us.
"Who sold more joysticks at Applefest
than anyone else?" We should have
known, since it was the Hayes booth.
Ironically, we have evaluated over 40
joysticks but never the Mach II or Mach
III units from Hayes (that will be rec-
tified next month). Anyway, we tried
one at the show and found it excep-
tionally responsive and accurate. More-
over, models are available for the Apple
II and He, IBM PC, and Color Com-
puter at a considerably lower price than
many others on the market.

Who sold more

joysticks at Applefest

than anyone else?

Hayes Products, 1558 Osage St., San
Marcos, CA 92069. (619) 744-8546.

Graphics

Doublestuff was attracting many dou-
ble takes with their exceptional high-
resolution pictures on the Apple. In-
deed, it was difficult to believe that it
really was an Apple. Peter Joselow told
us the Apple people themselves were so
impressed with the system that on the
second day of the show, they started to
show it in the graphics section of the
Apple booth. It has been said that a pic-
ture is worth 1000 words so we have in-
cluded one made with the Doublestuff
software package. But if you really want
the words, look elsewhere in this issue
for a major review of the package. Price
is only $39.95.

Doublestuff Software, 505 Court St.,
Brooklyn, NY 11231. (212) 237-2589.

Third Millennium Engineering Corp.,

a new company, was showing a product
called the Arcade Board. It is a sprite
graphics and sound effects board with
16K of built-in memory. It provides 15
colors, three graphics modes, 35 priori-
tized planes, and 32 sprites. For easy
animation, only two bytes in a table
must be changed to move a sprite to any

102

other screen location.

The three on-board tone generators
have a nine-octave range (calling all
dogs) and can produce both noise and
tones.

The board comes with Amparcade, a
graphics and sound language; price
$295.

Third Millennium Engineering Corp.,
1015 Gayley Ave., Los Angeles, CA
90024. (213)473-2102.

Another sprite board with remarkable
capability is Super Sprite from Synetix,
announced a few months ago (reviewed
in this issue). It allows up to 32 sprites
and has sound synchronized to the ac-
tion. Moreover, an Echo II speech syn-
thesizer, incorporated on the board,
allows it to speak. The Ampersprite lan-
guage lets you take full advantage of all
the many features of the Super Sprite.

Synetix Inc., 10635 NE 38th PL,
Kirkland, WA 98033. (206) 828-4884.

Not a new product, but a really neat
one, is the Number Nine graphics board
for the Apple. It produces an unbeliev-
able 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution; 16
simultaneous colors (or up to 256 colors
with a multi-card system); hardware
drawing features with vectors, arcs, and
rectangles (at the rate of 800 nano-
seconds per pixel); character draw and
area fill; pan, scroll, and zoom; light pen
interface; and a comprehensive software
package. This is a state-of-the-art graph-
ics system that turns the Apple into a
professional system rivaling ones at ten
times the price. List prices range from
$945 to $1195.

Number Nine Computer Engineering,
691 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA
02138. (617)492-0999.

Michael Darooge of Baudville, a new
company, was showing off a hi-res
graphics package, Pixit. It is a picture
editor with a large library of shapes
including 3-D geometries, cartoon char-
acters, electronic symbols, music sym-
bols, and various textures. Pixit works
like a word processor so no program-
ming skills are necessary to use it. Text
can be included in several different fonts
and sizes. List price is $49.95.

Baudville, 1001 Medical Park Dr. SE,
Grand Rapids, MI 49506. (616) 957-
3036.

Imaginator is a series of professional
programs for creating, editing, manipu-
lating, and displaying 3-D graphics im-
ages. The main module is a menu-driven
graphics editor which accepts input data

as points, lines, or objects. Once created,
objects can be rotated in any plane, the
type of projection can be varied (per-
spective or orthogonal), and the location
of the eye point and view point varied
along with the distance from the eye

Imaginator is a series

of professional

programs for creating,

editing, manipulating,

and displaying 3-D

graphics images.

point to the picture plane. Displayed im-
ages can be saved on disk or dumped to
a printer with any of the popular graph-
ics dump cards (Dumpling, Grappler,
Microbuffer, et al).

Imaginator comes in two versions.
The first is for B&W work with single
objects and costs $129, while the
Imaginator 2 is for B&W or color work
with multiple objects and costs $189.

Townsend Microware, P.O. Box 1200,
Port Townsend, WA 98368. (206) 385-
4080.

The Computer Colorworks Division
of Jandel Corp. was showing a nifty
graphics entry system, The Digital
Paintbrush, and associated software
package, Flying Colors.

The Digital Paintbrush consists of a
flat box with two strings coming out
each side attached to a pen on the out-
side and two potentiometers on the in-
side. You simply use the pen to draw a
picture, and the results appear automati-
cally on the screen. It is as easy as using
pencil and paper.

It is made even more friendly with the
Flying Colors software package. This
provides the user with different size and

The Digital Paintbrush uses two strings
(invisible in photo) to measure position of
pen.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

The

persona]

portable

daisywheel
printer.

Only $599.

For the first time, your letter quality printer
can be used almost anywhere! Bring the new
Transtar 120 with you to work, to school, and
home again! Conveniently weighing in at
than 19 pounds, it generates unrivaled pr
quality and is the size of a standard briefc
The new 120 is so light, so small, that you
can take it with you!

Remarkably, the new $599 Transtar 120
"plug and go" compatible with the best s<
ling word processing programs. Just plug the
120 into your personal computer and watch
this precision printer purr along at 14 cps
Shannon text speed producing superscript,
subscript, underlining and a true boldface.
Even using letterhead is now a breeze with
the 120's automatic single sheet loading!
Don't worry about durability: it's a tough
little machine. It joins the highly reliable fam-
ily of Transtar printers with a failure rate
that's the envy of the industry: less than 1%.
Should your 120 ever need repair, a nation-
wide network of authorized service centers
stands ready for speedy repair on your six-
month end-user warranty.
Just think of it: everything you want in a
letter-quality printer.. .anywhere you want it
Only $599.

Transtar

P.O. Box C-96975, Bellevue, Washington 98009
CIRCLE 190 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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CALSOFT

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Pronto DOS 29 95

Double Take

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• Beagle BASIC **••*

BPI SYSTEMS

General ledgei 395 °°

Accounts Receivable 395.00

Accounts Payable 395 00

Businesss Analyst 195 00

Our
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MICROSOFT

• Multiplan
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* Applesoft Compiler 175.O0
Multi-Tool Financial Statement 100 00

List

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275.00

2495

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SIR TECH

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Wizardry 49 95

Knight ot Diamonds
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39 95

Our
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42.45
29.70
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* The Arcede Machine 59.95
Choplrlter 34.95

* AE »*■•»

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29.95
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* Home Accountant 74.95

• CPA Modules «1 -4 (each) 2*0.00
FCM
Tax Advantage

9995
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44.95
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56.20

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84.95

59.45

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* Complete Graphics System 79.95

* Graphics Magician 59.95

Transylvania 19 95

TheOuesI

Coveted Mirror 1995

SIERRA ONLINE

Ulysses 3495

* Dark Crystal *•••*
Cross Fire 29 95

* Screenwriter 129.95

* Screen Writer Professional '??•??

* Ultima II
f royyer
The Artist

* General Manager
Homeword
Jawbreaker
Troirs Tale

Sammy Lightfoot 29.95

Mr Cool 2»-» 8

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Oirs Well 29 95

Aquatron 29.95

59.95
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PFS:WRITE
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SOFTWARE PUBLISHING

.PFSFII. I"-"" •"■

ePFSR.port 1»-~ •»•«

• PFSGr.ph '25.00 93.75

MISCELLANEOUS

Accounting Plus G/L 395.00

Chess 7.0. 699S

* OB Master 3.0 229.O0

* OB Master 4.0 350.00
Dollars » Sense 100 00

* Incredible Jack 179.00

6995
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5500

DECISION SUPPORT

The Accountant

12900 109.65

The Business Accountant 25S.OO 191.25

SPINNAKER

* Snooper Troops »1,»2(eech) 44.95 33.70

The Most Amazing Thing 39 95 33.95

Face Make. 3495 29.70

Kindercomp 2995 25.45

EDU-WARE

Prisoner 2 32.95

* Algebra 1 -4 (each) »•■•»
Algebra 5 5 6 49 9S

* Frectlons/DeclmehMeach) 49.00

PSAT/SAT Word Skills leach) 49.00

28.00
29.95
42.45
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ASCII EXPRESS PRO
33*«C 97.45

HAYDEN

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Pie Writer 2 2

Sargon II

2995 25.45

INFOCOM

* Zork I. II. Ill (each)

Deadline

39.95
4995

Starcross 39 95

Suspended

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pianettaii

4995
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49 95

* Enchanter 49.95

Intidel

4995

29.95
42.45

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STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS

Computer Quarterback 39 95

Napoleon s Campaigns 59 95

Guadalcanal Campaign 59 95

Cosmic Balance II 39.95

Germany 1985 * 9 95

Bomb Alley 59 95

* Fighter Command 59.95
RDF: 1985 3 ** s

* North Allantlc '88
Knights of the Desert.
Geopolitique 1 990 .

* Ringside Seat

Broadsides.

Professional Golf Tour

Fortress

Queen of Hearts

39.95
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29.70
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Ken Uston's Blackjack

Lisa 2 6

Master Diagnostics

Mastertype 39 95

• Merlin 64 - 95

Micro Cookbook 4000

Microterminal 84 95

Miner 2049er 39 95

. Sensible Speller IV 125.00

Speilicopter

Sticky Bear ABC 39 9S

Tan Preparer 1984 CALL

Terrapin Logo 149 95

Tr.ns.ndll < 4900

Ultima III 549 j"

* Vlalcalc 250.00

Visicaic 80 Col Preboot 49 00

Z.x.on 3995

IBM PC SOFTWARE

BPI Personal Accounting . 195.00

Crosstalk 1»»-00

* dBaae II 7 °° °°

Flight Simulator 49 95

Friday 2 9500

* Microsoft Word 395.00
Multimate 4950 °
Norton Utilities 80 00
PC Tutor 5995
Peachpak (GL/AR/AP) 395.00
Peachtent SOOO 395.00
Personal Investor 14500
Smartcomll 11900

* Wordstar 495.00
Ultima II 5995
Ultralile 19 5°°
Visrword 375.00

318.00
59.45

171.75

282.50
85.00

134.25
59.45
87.95
47.75
33.95
48.70
34.00
72.20
33.95
93.75
33.95
33.95
CALL

127.45

126.65

46.70

193.75

41.65

33.95

156.00

185.75

439.00

42.45

236.00

298.23

396.00

68.00

50.95

318.00

316 OO

123.25

101.15

371.23

50.95

156 OO

299.00

CALSOFT

346 N. KananRd. #103
Agoura, CA 91301
V»fvvwv^rv^rvv^rvwv^rtrv^rttv»e^■^w^v'

"ll Toll Free: (800) 423-5290 In California: (213) 991-964 1
We accept Mastercard & Visa (include # and Exp.ration Date), check, COD > S2.0C I extra), or Money
ofderCaZm}! residents add 6% sales tax. Include $2 00 tor shjPpmg<UPS Blue Label $3.50.
Canada $6.00. other foreign countries 10% ot order- minimum $10.00).

Applefest, continued...

shape paintbrushes, a menu of graphics
shapes (lines, boxes, circles), and the
ability to fill areas with colors and add
text to an image. A thoughtful touch is
the feature that allows you to store im-
ages and play them back in a slide show
mode. Price is a modest $39.95.

Jandel Corp., 3030 Brideway,
Sausalito, CA 94965. (415) 331-3022.

Micron Technology was showing
MicronEye, an optical system to let your
computer see. It consists of a very small
lens assembly, tripod, interface card (for
Apple, IBM PC, Commodore 64, or
Color Computer), software and man-
uals. The uses are limited only by your
imagination; some that spring to mind
are character recognition, graphics in-
put, surveillance, experiment monitor-
ing, and time-lapse motion studies.

The MicronEye uses a standard TV
camera lens coupled to a 64K. memory
device called an OpticRam. The

The MicronEye in operation.

MicronEye has a resolution of 128 x 256
pixels and scans two to five frames per
second in typical room lighting. Price is
a surprisingly modest $295.

Micron Technology Inc., 2805 East
Columbia Rd., Boise. ID 83706. (208)
383-4000.

Software

Perhaps one of the least understood
products at the show was Excalibur's

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Neil Clemmons of Excalibur gave us an
excellent demonstration of the Savvy
system.

Savvy system. Physically, it consists of a
circuit board, a master disk, several
applications disks, and a fat manual.
Conceptually, it is an operating system,
a virtual resource manager, an English-
like language, an associative memory,
and an automatic program generator.
Perhaps most notably, Savvy is a
personality that actively tries to figure
out what you mean when you type on
the keyboard. Savvy accepts whatever
you type and gives it its best shot. It gets
better and better as it gains experience.

The folks at Excalibur realized that
they had a tiger by the tail and that get-
ting the whole message of Savvy across
was nigh impossible. Hence, they are
now positioning it as a powerful data-
base building and management system
and letting users discover the natural
language features.

There are three Apple versions of
Savvy, a home-oriented single disk ver-
sion for $349, a Pro version for multiple
disk systems for $495, and the Business
version with six applications programs
for $999. There are versions for the IBM
PC and XT also.

Excalibur Technologies Corp., 800
Rio Grande Blvd. NW, Mercado 21, Al-
buquerque, NM 87104. (505) 242-3333.

The Dollars and Sense package from
Monogram is a money management
package that includes templates for
household, business, and income tax ac-
counts. It can establish up to 120 budget
accounts along any lines you specify —

monthly or annual, fixed or variable. It
can write checks, make transactions, and
remind you to pay your bills. It has a
"what if?" capability that allows you to
modify specific accounts and look at the
overall effect without actually making
the change. Available for both Apple
and IBM PC.

Monogram, 8295 South LaCienega
Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90301. (213) 215-
0529.

Knoware has gotten a good deal of
publicity in the business and financial
press because of its well-known prin-
cipals: John Donovan of the M.I.T.
Sloan School; Tom Tower, former vice
president of Visicorp; and Archie
McGill, former president of a division of
AT&T. Unfortunately, their showing at
Applefest did not live up to the advance
billing.

We asked for a brief description and
were told to watch a 15-minute demon-
stration. We asked about their market-
ing plans and were told they would be
running a multi-million dollar campaign
in all the "important" media (Business
Week, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal,
etc.) and that personal computing maga-
zines weren't in their mainstream.

Knoware has gotten a

good deal of publicity

in the business and

financial press because

of its well-known

principals.

Anyway, from what we gathered,
Knoware is an educational package with
tutorials and simulations that give you
experience with a spreadsheet, word
processing, database management, pro-
gramming, graphics, and financial anal-
ysis. It is available for the Apple and
IBM PC and XT.

Knoware, 301 Vassar St., Cambridge,
MA 02139. (617) 576-3821.

Waightsware was showing a clever
software package called a Six Pack
consisting of four applications program
disks and two blank disks. Each pro-
gram contains all the files and instruc-
tions necessary for its use; thus no
manual is necessary, we tried one and
found it exceptionally easy to learn and
use.

The four applications programs are an

105

'"^

^=3

^^m

MAKE

CORPORATION

THE

CONNECTION

POPCOM.X100
the new, easy-to-
use communica-
tions tool that
connects you and
your personal
computer to the
wondrous, mind
expanding, enlight-
ening world ot
information.

Automatic or manual dialing and answering for all voice and data calls.
Voice and data transmission during the same call — ends the 3 separate
calls ("I'm going to send," "I'm sending," "Did you get what I sent?")
Smart modem compatible — works with widely available communications
software.

Flexibility — compatible with 103, 113, and 212A dial-up modems: connects
to all standard single and multi-line equipment.

Fast, easy setup — 'tune' tells when the three cables are property connected.
Adjustment-free operation — no manual switches to contend with. The
X100 automatically takes its instructions from your PC or terminal.
Automatic computer briefing — reports to your PC all call-progress tones ...
dial tone, busy signal, remote ringing, talk, even line disconnect — so your
computer can do more.

"In-Us*" light on multi-line phones — protects against inadvertent interrup-
tion.

Smart interface — automatically adapts itself to various RS232 cables.
Versatile installation — fits conveniently on wall, desk or floor.

See your dealer or write for more information. Make the connection
between yourself and the challenging world of information.

D Please send me literature on POPCOM products.
Q Please call me immediately.

NAME

TITLE

COMPANY

TEL:

ADDRESS

STATE

ZIP

PRENTICE CORPORATION, 266 Caspian Dr.. P.O. Box 3544,
Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3544, (408) 734-9855

CIRCLE 218 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Cave Your Apple

SAYBROOK™ The Third Alternative

An increasing number of Apple II users have reached the limit- of
their machines' capabilities. These users face a dilemma: to upgrade to
a new computer system or not to upgrade.

Tru«, is no longer the question N<i\/>Tcj<ik offers the third a/tem

SAYBROOK is the 68000 co-processor for the Apple II. Once
inserted, Saybrook transforms the modest Apple into an awesome
micro-mainframe computer, capable of 10-30 times the sjx-ed of the
Apple, with twice the memory on-l

By drawing upon state-of-the-art technology, Saybrook hrint:s the
Apple II user .i new dimension of power as set unknown.

HARDWARE

• Motorola Mr 66000 12 If hit microprocessor, 8 Mil: (12.5 MH:
upgrade available now.) • I28K RAM on-board, expandable to S12K
(off-board expansion to In megabytes) • 24 hour time of day clock •
operating system timer (multiple user capability).

SOFTWARE

Standard — * Standard operating system: I ( ISD p-System Version
IV.l Pascal, FORTRAN 77. BASIC compilers included • Applesoft-
compatible 68000 BASK • 68000 Assembler • Apple peripheral
itibility including 80 column inch disk dri

RAM disks, and much more. Opiional — • p System application
package including spreadsheet by Timberlinc and word processor hv
IK X )M (both IBM P. C. software). FORTH. Comin K Soon: I IP M
68K, UNIX.

BENEFITS

1. Speed — Sayhrook's M( "68000 52/16 hit microprocessor runs programs ten
to thirty times faster than the Apple II.

2. Memory— Sayhrook gives you I28K RAM on-board— expandable to S12K
on-board Saybrook is capable of off-board expansion up to 16 megabytes.

3. Software- Sayhrook will run Apple Pascal, FORTRAN, and BASK
Apple i ten to thirtN times /aster. In addition, Sayhrook accesses the
enormo tem library of software

4. Cost-$l,550 suggested retail price, ($1,950 for 12.5 MHi Saybrook)
includes the Saybrook 6N0O0 co-processor with 128K RAM on-board; the

tem with Pascal, FORTRAN 77, and BASIC compilers ($1,425
value) In addition, Applesoft-compatible, 68000 BASK' i- included, p System
applkatjon package, FORTH optional. IT M 68K and I NIX will be available
soon Saybrook comes with a full six month parts and labor warranty. In
addition, Sayhrook i ustomers are automatically included in the membership
of the Sayhrook users group.

Saybrook offers superior hardware, superior software, superior price.
Sayhrook LI the third alternative.

For additional information on Sayhrook, to order, or for the location of the
dealer nearest you, call or write:

Analytical Engines, he

MIS Grcyttone, Suhc >0S Austin, Texas 78731

(512) »4tv(mo

S s ybrool yl'l'l l 11

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CPM-MK

CIRCLE 208 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Applefest, continued...

inventory file system, financial security
record, mailing list program (675 re-
cords), and telephone directory (1000
records). All have both screen and print
options. For all Apples.

Waightsware, 31 Crippleridge Ct.,
San Mateo, CA 94402. (415) 572-1028.

A friendly family group all dressed
in blue and white were promoting
Carolyn's Household Computer Pro-
gram, a double sided disk for the Apple.
One side of this easy-to-use disk contains
a shopping list generator, imaginative
list of recipes, coupon reminder, pantry
list (580 items), and calorie counter. The
other side contains a long list of house-
hold hints for stain removal, minor re-
pairs, and other helpful tips.

We tasted the fudge made from the
recipe on the disk and the chocolate
fanatics in our group proclaimed it
delicious.

Price is $59.95 by mail from Carolyn's
Problem Solvers, 2061 Anise Dr., El
Paso, TX 79935. (915) 592-5314.

An eclectic collection of software
packages was being shown by
Craftsbury Software. Micro Chef has a
disk full of interesting recipes and will
scale them for any size group, make
shopping lists, and index other recipes as
well as its own. $39.95.

Other programs include Mail Man-
ager, a comprehensive system for up to
9999 names ($89.95); People Tracker, a
scaled-down Mail Manager ($34.50);
Memory Jogger, a time management/
appointment calendar system ($34.50);
Wine Connoisseur to keep track of a cel-
lar inventory and tasting notes ($39.95);
and four others.

Craftsbury Software, 1623 Montague
St. NW, Washingotn, DC 20011. (202)
829-3121.

A new company, Pryority Software,
was showing an adventure game, Forbid-
den Quest, with a new twist. Basically, it
is a text adventure, but it comes with
five posters (one in color, and four
B&W). The posters, as well as providing
some nice wall decoration, also contain
clues for solving the adventure.

Pryority Software, P.O Box 221959,
Carmel, CA 93922. (408) 625-0125.

Ibid Inc. was showing the first adven-
ture in their Vodac series, The Alpine
Encounter. It is a hi-res game with 93
full-color locations and 28 fascinatingly
alive characters. The arcade-like skiing
sequences are breathtaking and realistic.
Vodac, in case you are interested, is a

February 1984 c Creative Computing

sinister political force dedicated to the
overthrow of the free world (shades of
James Bond). The game is on two disks
for $59.95.

Ibid Inc., 179 Allyn St., Suite 607,
Hartford, CT 06103. (203) 547-0085.

Electronic Arts had a classy booth
with an attention-getting crackling blue

Electronic Arts had a

classy booth with an

attention-getting

crackling blue light

tube running across

the back.

light tube running across the back. Being
demonstrated on large screen monitors
were several games including The Last
Gladiator (that means you). In the arena
with you are a snake, robot, abominable
snowman, and a dragon, against which
your weapons (gun, stick, and net) seem
to have little effect.

Along the lines of the excellent ALF
music system, is the new Music Con-
struction Set. Music playback is accom-
panied by the staffs scrolling horizontal-
ly on the screen.

Electronic Arts, 2755 Campus Dr.,
San Mateo, CA 94403. (415) 571-7171.

Educational Software

There was a great deal of educational
software being shown at Applefest.
Watch for reviews in upcoming months.
Meanwhile, here is a smattering of what
was on the show floor.

Laureate Learning Systems was
showing several packages aimed at
learning disabled youngsters. All of
them use the Echo II speech synthesizer
to provide spoken as well as visual feed-
back. Speak Up is an interesting system
for school or home that lets you create
words and phrases and use them in other
programs.

Laureate Learning Systems, 1 Mill St.,
Burlington, VT 05401. (802) 862-7355.

Fay is an attractive young lady who
leads you through spelling instruction
(3000 words or your own) in a word
search format ($34.95) or through
arithmetic instruction in an animated
program called, Fay: That Math Woman
($29.95).

Didatech Software, 2301-1150 Jervis

St., Vancouver, BC V6E 2C8. (604) 687-
3468.

Jeepers Creatures is a cute package
that has 30 basic animals with inter-
changeable heads, torsos, and legs. With
it, you can create an owligator, an
octocatfish, or any one of 26,000 other
creatures. Great fun! My House, Your
House is also aimed at preschool users
and lets you walk around a house and
furnish rooms with people, pets, and fur-
niture in any way you choose. Sink on
the bedroom ceiling? Why not? $34.95
each for Apple, Atari, or Commodore.

Kangaroo, Inc., 332 S. Michigan
Ave., Suite 700, Chicago, IL 60604.
(312)987-9050.

Three word games, Word Seach.
Word Match, and Word Scramble were
being shown by Hi Tech. Word Match
was one we hadn't seen before. Basically,
it allows you to create up to 20-item
matching quizzes with a word or two
and a definition. All three packages are
aimed at teachers but could be used in
the home as well. Word Search costs
$34.95 and the other two are $24.95.

Hi Tech of Santa Cruz, 126 Light-
house Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95060.
(408) 425-5654.

More for recreational than educa-
tional use is Annacrostics Dilemma, a
disk of 20 crossword puzzles. This is an
excellent way to hone your word skills
and become familiar with interesting
quotes and clever phrases. For one to
four players, Apple II or He, $25.00.

AVREX, P.O. Box 2072, Saratoga,
CA 95070. (408) 257-1202.

And A Robot

Not just computers, but robots as
well. RB5X was at the show showing off
his Polaroid rangefinder eyes, five-way
arm and hand, three drive wheels for
quick mobility, and eight tactile sensors,
all controlled and monitored by his on-
board microprocessor. Perhaps the best
way to get acquainted with robots before
making that big $1795 purchase, is by
getting RB's Robot Appreciation Kit. It
contains a book about robots, reference
list of articles, copy of a monthly robot-
ics newsletter, literature on the RB5X
including a copy of the reference man-
ual, a collection of short stories by Isaac
Asimov, a bumper sticker and poster, all
for $19.95.

RB Robot Corp., 14618 W. 6th Ave.,
Ste. 201, Golden, CO 80401. (303) 279-
5525. SE

109

THE FORTH SOURCE tm

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yjfc - * 1 Volume 3, Floating Point Glossary by Springer $1

jg* Volume 4, Expert System with source code by Park $25

j»> Volume 5, File Management System with interrupt security by

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MVP-FORTH Software - A Transportable FORTH

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FORTH DISKS

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APPLE by Kuntze
ATARI" valFORTH
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Enhanced FORTH with

S-Stand Alone. M-Math

Extras. 79-FORTH-79
APPLE by MM.
F. G. & 79
ATARI by PNS, F.G. & X $90
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f» Victor 9000 by DE.G.X $150

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college level text $ 25 j»^
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Invitation to FORTH $20
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Tiny Pascal fig-FORTH $10
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U 1802
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CIRCLE 176 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Save The

Coin-op

Industry?

A Report And
^Prognostications
I I From A Famous
Gamer

Why do we report on the coin-op
game industry? Because the games that
you play in the arcades today (and
their derivatives) are the games you
will play at home tomorrow. We think
that trends in the coin-op industry fore-
shadow trends in the home entertain-
ment market, and we want to give you
a preview of what is coming down the
pike

Ken Uston

Because of the precarious state of the
coin-op industry, the 35th Annual
AMOA International Exposition of
Games and Music took on far more
meaning than just another display of the
new coin-op games. It was viewed by
many as a harbinger of the future con-
dition of the industry.

The coin-op business has been in seri-
ous trouble during the past year or so.
According to The Los Angeles Times,
annual sales of new coin-op games have
dropped from one billion dollars to $500
million, a precipitous 50% decline

Ken Uston. 2140 Taylor St.. #1201, San Francisco.
CA 94133.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

which would prove highly damaging to
any industry.

An Atari spokesman estimated that
arcade revenues have decreased 15 to
20% over the past year. A quick stroll
through most arcades across the country
would corroborate this guess; it doesn't
take an industry expert to notice that
there are many fewer people playing
video games in the arcades than there
were a year ago. Many in the industry
feel that the hectic Pac-Mania of 1980-
82 was transient. A recent survey re-
vealed that 38% of the arcade operators
polled thought that the arcade boom
had, in fact, been a fad.

Over the past several months, a state-
of-the-art coin-op game, Dragon's Lair,
was introduced into the arcades. The la-
ser disc technology of Dragon's Lair
permits cartoon-like graphics to be dis-
played on the screen. The game became
an enormous hit and immediately soared
to the top of the coin-op game charts. It
became so popular that the manufac-

turer, Cinematronics, hasn't been able to
meet demand; operators today are wait-
ing impatiently to get their hands on
Dragon's Lair units.

Because of the success of Dragon's
Lair, it was generally expected that nu-
merous laser disc games would be in-
troduced at the October AMOA. The
operators, of course, were hoping that
these games would be able magically to
lure kids (of all ages) back into the ar-
cades. There was widespread surmise
that the October AMOA would provide
the key to the salvation of the coin-op
industry.

Thus it was with great anticipation
that I flew to New Orleans to find out,
first-hand, what was happening in the
dynamic coin-op industry.

Little did I know that I would be in
for a great surprise.

• * •

Well here it is, Saturday, October 29,
1983, 8.00 in the morning. We are about
to attend The 35th Annual AMOA
International Exposition of Games and
Music. The show is being held in the

111

I^H

Coin-Op Industry, continued...

New Orleans Rivergate auditorium, of-
ficially called The Port of New Orleans
Exhibition Center.

There are over 1 70 exhibitors, includ-
ing the coin-op giants. Bally Midway,
Atari, Williams, Nintendo, Mylstar, and
Centuri. Almost 20 seminars are being
held to help arcade operators run their
business, covering such diverse subjects
as Are You Paying The IRS Too Much?
(aren't we all?) and Pinball Merchandis-
ing: an Alternative.

I am now waiting to be processed at
the Registration Desk, and already my
juices are flowing as I hear the sounds of
space battles, maze chases, and airplane
bombing emanating from the adjacent
exhibition hall.

Now it is time to go inside and see
what is happening. The hall is large, al-
though not nearly as large as the ones at
CES, with nice wide carpeted walkways.
As I look around, I spot all the familiar
names. Bally Midway, Stern, Rockola —
and, as always, there is the huge Atari
logo suspended from the ceiling of the
auditorium over the Atari booth.

Luckily, because the folks at Exidy
gave me one of their exhibitor badges, I
have been allowed to enter two hours in
advance ostensibly to set up. What I am
going to do, of course, is try to get two

solid hours of game play, unimpeded by
the crowds, which have yet to arrive.

The Games

Over the two days I was at AMOA, I
was able to get in about 12 hours of
game play. This section describes and
evaluates the games that were in-
troduced. I'll start with the game I rated
as Best of Show and then discuss the
others, in descending order of (my)
interest.

But first, an important proviso (a
fancy term for cop-out): There were
many games to review. I have found that
I usually don't really understand the full
scope of a game until I have played it for
at least two or three hours; sometimes
the process takes far longer.

In 12 hours of play I couldn't possibly
do justice to all the games. So, in many
cases, I am passing on to you only first
impressions.

It is also important to recognize that
we all have game preferences. I, for
example, love mazes, particularly Pac-
Man-type games and hair raising shoot-
'em-ups. Climbing games generally turn
me off. I prefer games with simple con-

Ratings of games at October 1983 AMOA.

Game

Manufacturer

* * * *

1. Pac-Man Jr.

Bally

2. Blaster

Williams

3. Mr. Do's Castle

Universal

4. Star Rider (LC)

Williams

5. TX-1

Atari

* * *

6. Pole Position II

Atari

7. Astron Belt (LC)

Bally

8. Cube Quest (LC)

Simutrek

9. M.A.C.H. 3 (LC)

Mylstar

10. Discs of Tron

Bally

1 1 . Elevator Action

Taito

12. Body Check Hockey

Eastern Micro Elect

13. Spy Hunter

Bally

14. Bouncer

15. Track And Field

Konami/Centuri

16. Major Havoc

Atari

17. Marvin's Maze

SNK Electronics

18. Donkey Kong 3

Nintendo

19. Bega's Battle (LC)

Data East

20. Badlands (L)

Centuri

21. Cliff Hanger (L)

Stern

22. Laser Gran Prix (LC)

Taito

23. Goal To Go (L)

Stern

Number Of Hours

250
200
175
150
150

100
100

50
40
40

30
25
15
10

(L) = Laser only

(LC) = Laser and superimposed computer graphics

Table 1.
112

trols (e.g., a joystick and firing button)
as opposed to games such as Defender
with six separate controls and StarGate
with seven.

With these qualifications, I have
ranked the games by assigning to each
the number of hours I would probably
want to spend playing them. I estimated
that the top game would capture 250
hours of my time; the games that I found
least appealing were assigned zero hours.

Now don't get mad if my opinion
doesn't agree with yours. People vary in
their taste for video games just like they
do for talk show hosts, cars, clothes, and
movies. You may not agree with me. But
I do promise that I have given you my
totally honest opinions, biased as they
might be.

While most of the games discussed be-
low were introduced as "new" at the
show, some had made prior appearances
in arcades. Some (including M.A.C.H. 3,
Discs of Tron, Bega's Battle, and Ele-
vator Action) had even been listed on
game charts prior to AMOA.

Pac-Man Jr.

I was totally taken by (delightful) sur-
prise when I saw Bally's newest Pac-
Man variation. The maze chase, called
Pac-Man, Jr. has incorporated several
novel Pac-variations:

• A scrolling screen. There are about
twice as many dots to eat as in the con-
ventional Pac-Man games.

• The fruits are dangerous. They eat
the energizers they encounter. Worse

Pac-Man Jr.

yet, they convert the dots into larger
dots which slow down Pac-Man Jr.,
making him more likely to be caught by
the pursuing monsters. (Game tip: eat
the fruits early!)

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Ltaa1

Coin-Op Industry, continued.

Pac-Man Jr.

• There are six energizers, instead of
four.

Pac-Man Jr., being a junior, is smaller
than either Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man
and has a little beany on his head. The
"symbols" pick up on the junior theme,
as shown in Table 2.

Board

Symbol

Points

1st

Bicycle

100

2nd

Kite

200

3rd

Drum

300

4th

Balloon

700

5th

Locomotive

1000

6th

Dog

2000

7th

Ice cream soda

5000

Table 2.

Evaluation: The game is highly play-
able. I wonder, however, if some players
might find the many extra dots on each
board too tedious to want to clear. De-
spite this, I predict that Pac-Man Jr. will
be near the top of the charts soon after it
is released.

Blaster

My second choice is Williams'
Blaster, in my opinion the ultimate space

shoot-'em-up to date. Blaster is totally
addictive. The graphics are so convinc-
ing that you feel you are actually travel-
ing through space. Blaster poses several
different types of challenges to the
player: shooting, of course; traversing a
sort of space slalom; picking up space
travelers; and others.

After completing 30 waves, you reach
Paradise, which will prove to be a truly
exciting place for most. I won't spoil it
by revealing what Paradise is, but I will
give you a clue; it was undoubtedly
created by an MCP.

The controls are simple, yet the action
is exciting. The color, sound, and detail
of the objects on the screen are all fabu-
lous, even though the game isn't a laser
game. And it has that &%&#&)* fac-
tor when your man is destroyed — the
critical element that keeps most of us

Blaster

wanting to play over and over again.

Evaluation: Blaster is a definite top-
of-the-charts-soon-after-release game.

Mr. Do's Castle

Mr. Do's Castle is Universal's sequel
to Mr. Do, (a Dig Dug type climbing
game) that has appeared on the charts.
About the only relationship between Mr.
Do's Castle and Mr. Do is the cute little
character, Mr. Do.

Mr. Do climbs ladders and hammers

Mr. Do 's Castle

pursuing unicorns into oblivion. He also
pounds blocks so they drop onto uni-
corns standing on girders below.

Evaluation: Despite my aversion to
climbing games, I rate Mr. Do's Castle,
a non-laser climbing game, highly, even
though it is not even an advance in the
state-of-the-art. The reason? Mr. Do's
Castle is highly playable. It is not hard
to learn, and you get the irrepressible de-
sire to advance to later screens. The
game theme and graphics are cute and
humorous. Playing Mr. Do's Castle just
gives you a good feeling. How's that for
being specific?

Watch the charts for this one, too.

Star Rider

This is the first laser disc game on my
AMOA "charts." Ironically, it is not the
laser graphics that qualify Star Rider; it
is the playability.

Star Rider is — would you believe? — a
space motorcycle racing game. The con-
trols are authentically incorporated in
the handlebars: the throttle is activated

Blaster
February 1 984 e Creative Computing

Star Rider

115

Coin-Op Industry, continued...

by rotating the right handlebar; the
brakes and turbo (for extra power) but-
tons are mounted on the left handlebar.

The game has stunning graphics. The
dashboard even has a rear view mirror
with graphics just as effective as those
on the main game screen. The laser
background adds further realism, as
does the three-channel stereo sound
system.

Star Rider was a hit at the show. And
the game wasn't even completed! To be
added are pursuing motorcycles, which
will make the rear view mirror an im-
portant survival tool.

Evaluation: I can't wait for Star Rid-
ers to show up in the arcades so I can
put in my 1 50 hours — or more! There is
no question about it, this game is highly
addictive.

TX-1

I love technology. TX-1 is a driving
game with not one, but three screens,
mounted side-by-side which gives a
super-realistic wraparound display. The
graphics are fabulous — even more effec-
tive than those in the Atari mega-hit,
Pole Position.

When you drive through the tunnels
that periodically appear on the screen,
the sounds of your engine are modified
to give a muffled echo effect. When you
pass other cars, or vice versa, you hear
the roar of the competing vehicles.

As your vehicle changes direction, the
background on all three screens scrolls
accordingly. When you pass road signs,
trees, windmills, and other objects, they
initially appear on the sides of the center
screen. Then the peripheral screens pick
up the objects, as they zoom past your
vehicle. If you oversteer, your car spins
out.

Once you are inside the enclosed cabi-
net, the sound is not to be believed. The
cabinet even vibrates.

That's the good news. The bad is that
TX-1 will probably cost us at least 50

cents per play. Perhaps that is only fair
because TX-1 games are going to set the
arcade operators back about $5000
apiece. I may be old-fashioned, but I
think arcade games should cost a
quarter — period.

Evaluation: There is no question that
TX-1 was one of the highlights of
AMOA. One can't help but ask, "Why
on earth is Atari coming out with an-
other driving game to compete with its
highly successful Pole Position?"

I think I know the answer. TX-1 was
originally introduced at a recent coin-op
show in Japan. At the time, it had not
been licensed by an American coin-op
manufacturer. I surmise that Atari li-
censed TX-1 so that other manufac-
turers, such as Bally and Williams,
would not do so and make Pole Position
(or Pole Position II — more on this game
later) obsolete.

If this theory is correct, Atari may de-
lay the introduction of TX-1 as long as
possible, to allow them to derive maxi-
mum revenues from their Pole Position
games.

I asked an Atari spokesperson what
specifically TX-1 adds to the Atari line
that Pole Position doesn't, other than
the three screen feature.

She said, "Frankly, it doesn't add that
much more."

At any rate, there is no question that
Atari has a lock on coin-op driving
games.

The most dramatic new
feature in Pole Position

is that it offers the

player a choice of four

courses.

Pole Position II

Atari also introduced Pole Position II
(PP II)at AMOA. PP II will be available
in the form of a conversion kit. This
means that the operators will not have to
buy a complete new game, cabinet and
all, but only a kit to convert existing
Pole Position games to PP II.

Conversion kits please operators to no
end. First, they cost less — usually under
$1 000. Second, operators can expense
them, deducting their total cost in the
year of purchase. Complete games, on

Pole Position II

the other hand, must be depreciated over
five years. (Five years, in my view, is un-
fair because most games remain popular
for only a year or two at most. Would
you believe that the Grand Daddy of
arcade games, Space Invaders, is only
about four years old?)

The most dramatic new feature in
Pole Position is that it offers the player a
choice of four courses (versus only one
in Pole Position). Other improvements
include more realistic explosions when
the car crashes — tires and other car
parts hurtle through the air upon
impact.

Astron Belt

Astron Belt is Bally's first laser disc
game. The game combines a laser back-

116

TXI

February 1984 c Creative Computing

ATARI
APPLE
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16S ON READER SERVICE CARD

Coin-Op Industry, continued...

ground with real-time player controlled
objects in the foreground. (These games
are called interactive laser disc games.)

The laser background consists of
realistic space scenes — cratered lunar
surfaces, space canyons, and so on. You
man a powerful-looking space vehicle
that fires missiles at enemy aircraft that
are also laser-realistic.

Astron Belt is playable and addictive.
It will be the rare player, who upon hav-
ing his aircraft destroyed, won't want to
play again . . . and again . . . and again.

I believe Astron Belt has a serious
shortcoming, however. When enemy
aircraft are destroyed, the resulting
napalm-like, bright red explosions,
which cover the entire screen, are to me
a bit macabre. We occasionally see burn-
ing planes going down in smoke, and we
can't overlook the fact that other human
beings (not space aliens or Martians) are
trapped inside the burning cockpits,
frying.

While I am not a political activist, I
personally believe that Astron Belt ex-
ploits destruction and violence. I can't
help imagining, that, among the few mil-
lion kids who will play Astron Belt,
reveling in the destruction of other
humans, there may be one someday who
will be in control of (and perhaps more
prone to push) The Red Button, to the
detriment (and that's putting it mildly)
of humanity.

OK. Enough morbid talk.

Cube Quest

Cube Quest from Simutrek was a dis-
appointment. I had tested a prototype of
this interactive laser game in advance of
AMOA at Simutrek's Hayward head-
quarters, and felt then that the game had
enormous potential. For some reason the
game didn't turn me on at AMOA, and
I am trying to figure out why.

When I play-tested the Cube Quest
prototype, a joystick and firing button
controlled the action. That, I liked. It
was all they could do to drag me away
from the game. At the show, the game
control was a trak ball, which didn't

Cube Quest

seem nearly as much fun (I freely admit
a prejudice against trak ball controls ex-
cept in special cases, such as Centipede
and Missile Command).

But the controls weren't the only
problem. What also bothered me was
that is was difficult to locate your space-
ship against the multi-colored laser
backgrounds (there are 54 of them,
many of which are gorgeous). I didn't
notice this on the prototype, and suspect
the reason is that when I played the
game in Hayward, the full array of
colorful backgrounds was not yet
available.

I spent a great deal of time play-test-
ing Cube Quest to make sure my second
thoughts were valid. As I played, people
watched, often preferring to let me test
the game rather than do it themselves (in
and of itself, a bad sign). The most
frequent comment I overheard was,
"What's going on?" In other words, the
spectators couldn't figure out what the
point of the game was. That is another
bad sign. (I believe that simplicity of
play and ease of understanding are two
important ingredients in successful game
design.)

It saddens me to say this. The

What's

he up to

now?

The invitation was a shameless tease.
On the front, in big letters, it said, "What's
he up to now?" On the inside was a
blackjack (an ace and a jack) and a huge
yellow Pac-Man, chasing another disc, the
Yale University logo. The text read, "Come
join Ken Uston, Blackjack King, Pac-
Master, Video Game Guru, for fun and
games at the staid old Yale Club of New
York."

When we entered the huge main dining
room of the Yale Club, carpeted in blue
(of course) and full of blue upholstered
furniture, we knew something different
was going to take place.

Formally dressed croupiers dealt cards
to players crowding around blackjack
tables. In one corner of the huge room,
the familiar sounds of "Wocka, wocka"
emanated from two Ms. Pac-Man arcade
machines. Sol Yaged and his All-Stars, a
Dixieland quartet that has been heard at
jazz joints in New York City from the
Metropole to the Red Garter, was blasting
out "When The Saints Go Marching In."
As we signed in, we were given a burgundy
velour bag, inside of which was a wood
and metal yoyo, engraved, "Fun and
Games."

Ken was decked out in a Brooks Brothers
suit, unusual apparel for him, to say the
least. When he worked at the Creative
Computing offices last year, doing his book
on home computers, he usually wore jeans
and a Space Invaders T-shirt. For formal
occasions, he would put on a polo shirt.

Later Ken got up on the stage and gave
a little speech. He told us some "war
stories" from his blackjack days, and dis-

cussed some of the teammates he had
met along the way, which he said would
have "later significance." Then he talked
about the development of the personal
computer and video game industries, start-
ing with the two Steves in a garage (Jobs
and Wozniak) and the pioneering Odyssey
game system.

Then the corporate maverick, who left
his job as Senior Vice President of the
Pacific Stock Exchange years ago to play
blackjack full-time, announced that he
has formed a company, called Fun and
Games, which will write a series of com-
puter books and software instruction man-
uals and design video games and other
software.

He announced that Fun and Games
has entered into agreements with four
companies: with Prentice- Hall to produce
a seven-book series of computer books;
with Epyx, to produce games and other
software; with Screen-play, to produce
game instruction manuals; and with New
American Library, to prepare a book on
the Coleco Adam.

Then he told us that Fun and Games
has five principals, all of whom come
from the world of blackjack and/or gam-
bling. Ron Karr and Bob Polin are both
former blackjack professionals (Bob de-
signed the best-selling Blue Max. for
Synapse Software). Roger Dionne has
written dozens of stories about gambling
(including several on Ken) and several
books on poker and video games. Inga
Chamberlain, who is also Ken's girlfriend,
is a former pitboss at the Tropicana in
Atlantic City.

118

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Simutrek people are nice guys. But I
must say that Cube Quest pales in
comparison to other games introduced
at AMOA.

M.A.C.H. 3

M.A.C.H. 3, an interactive laser
game, is a visual experience par ex-
cellence. On the screen of this aerial
challenge, we see real-life backgrounds,
brought to us through the magic of laser
disc technology. We soar over moun-
tains, harbors, bridges, and dams. You
feel like Superman, flying over all those
sights below. M.A.C.H. 3 is the most

realistic flying game I have seen to date.

There are two game options. You may
choose to man a fighter plane, which
strafes enemy targets and launches air-
to-air missiles, or you can command a
bomber, firing missiles and dropping
bombs, aiming with the assistance of a
bombardier's overhead view of the target
below. You control the game using a
large joystick with several built-in
buttons.

As is the case with other interactive
laser games, M.A.C.H. 3 allows you to
maneuver screen objects in the fore-
ground in real time. These objects are

M.A.C.H. 3

We collared Ken and asked him a few
questions:

0: Why "Fun and Games?"

A: The basic reason is that the people
in our group are here primarily to have
fun— to do what they want to do in life.
Sure, we expect to make the money to
satisfy our financial needs. But all of us,
to a person, are motivated far more by
doing something we enjoy doing, rather
than just chasing the buck.

A second reason for the Fun and Games
name is that, among other things, we're
designing video games and other software
that will be fun-to-play.

Q: I thought you always wanted to avoid
being in a business?

A: I did. The thing I really disliked
about being in business was the corporate
hierarchy — the clothes, the having lunch
with people you didn't want to have lunch
with.

In Fun and Games, there is little of
that. Sure, I direct what we do— there's
got to be a leader. But we are all doing
what we want to do. independent of some
stuffy board of directors calling the shots.
We do have meetings— to get the best
ideas from everyone. But there are no
bankers or venture capitalists to report to
or dress up for.

Q: But you're wearing a suit tonight.

A: Like the invitation says, it's the "staid,
old" Yale Club. In fact, my Mom brought
down 30 of my Dad's ties so members of
the working press and others could get in.

Q: Can a small company make it in this
business?

A: Not only can a small company suc-
ceed, we feel we're in a stronger position
than the big outfits. Look at the current
shake-out and who the major shakees are:
Imagic, TI, Mattel, possibly Atari— even
Activision is in trouble.

The big guys move slowly; they can't
change direction fast enough. And it's a
truism that in this industry, you must be
able to move on a dime. In fact, lots of
company heads even say that, but they
still get in trouble because they don't follow
that rule.

Smallness (assuming of course, you have
the ideas and the capital— which we do)
is OK in this business. Of course, you
need manufacturing and marketing— but
this we get from the companies we work
with, like Prentice-Hall, Epyx, and New
American Library.

Q: Isn't it foolhardy to enter the games
business when so many game companies
are in trouble?

A: On the surface, it would appear that

The fun and games team.

way. But the industry's problem has not
been just too many games. The basic
shortcoming has been not enough really
good games. Look at the last CES. Dozens
of "me too" games were introduced— the
public doesn't want those.

But when a River Raid, Megamania, or
Zaxxon comes along, the players gobble
it up.

Game companies often don't see the
forest through the trees. Lots of them
don't even play video games. How can
they know what an addictive game is?
Me, I play four or five hours a day, every
day— at home and in the arcades.

Let me give you an example of indus-
try myopia. Last month I visited the
AMOA in New Orleans. All the coin-op
companies jumped on the laser bandwagon,
thinking players want laser games. Wrong!
Players want playable games. Of the top
five AMOA games, only one was a laser—
and the fact that it was a laser was only
incidental to the game play. The games I
ranked as the five worst at AMOA, were
all lasers.

Q: What will Fun and Games be doing
a year from now?

A: I haven't the vaguest. Anyone in
this business who tries to predict what he
will be doing in a year, or even in six
months, is kidding himself. Sure, venture
capitalists like business plans, but things
are changing far too fast to etch anything
in stone.

Look at Imagic and TI. In four years or
less, they went from nothing— in the home
industry— to huge suppliers— and back— to
virtually nothing again. The same with
Osborne. In most other industries this
cycle can take decades.

So we are rolling with the punches.
What with $1 32-bit chips, voice recognition
devices, and who knows what else, there's
no telling what we'll be writing books
about or what software we'll be designing
next year. No doubt we'll soon be helping
people get used to software that has totally
obsoleted Lotus 1-2-3 and Context MBA,
and hardware that has made buggy whips
of the IBM PCjr and the Macintosh.— JJA

February 1984 c Creative Computing

119

Coin-Op Industry, continued...

superimposed upon the laser back-
ground. Game play is even more dra-
matic inside the enclosed sitdown cabi-
net version in which the screen is larger
and the sounds far more explosive.

When a target is hit, the resulting
bright red explosions are convincing —
for a while. However, after the super-
imposed explosions fade away, the tar-
gets which were supposedly destroyed,
occasionally reappear in the back-
ground, undamaged. This detracts con-
siderably from the realism of the game.

M.A.C.H. 3 has another serious short-
coming. The game play is confusing.
You must zero in on rectangular view-
finders on the screen. A number of play-
ers at the show tried in vain to figure out
how to aim properly.

Evaluation: I believe that M.A.C.H. 3
will get lots of play — far more than
Dragon's Lair. But I also suspect that
M.A.C.H. 3 will wear thin before very
long (as contrasted with Blaster or Mr.
Do's Castle, the interest in which, I
believe, will last far longer).

M.A.C.H. 3

Discs Of Tron

Discs of Tron is basically a lethal
game of frisbee. You are Tron; your goal
is to destroy your computer controlled
opponent, Sark, by hurling discs at him.
The contest takes place inside a futuris-
tic looking handball-type court.

You try to knock Sark off his platform
by striking him with the deadly discs.
Sark, of course, tries to do the same to
you, hurling a variety of missiles from
his arsenal.

The graphics are futuristic and effec-
tive. The game comes either as a stand-
up model or as a sit-down enclosed
cabinet (it seems that cabinets are
becoming popular in coin-op games).

The controls are a bit complex. Most
players will probably get used to them
after only a few games. The four
controls are:

• A rotary knob on the left side of the
control panel, used to aim the discs.

• A joystick to maneuver Tron.

• A trigger to launch discs.

• A button on the joystick to put up a

120

Discs of Tron

protective shield, so Tron can deflect
objects that are thrown at him.

Evaluation: I am lukewarm about the
Discs of Tron, primarily because of the
multiple controls. There is an element of
competition in the game which may
cause the game to grow on players: Sark
laughingly mocks you when he knocks
you down, and when you zap him, he
threatens, "You'll regret this."

Several people I talked to at the show
enjoyed playing Discs of Tron. I suspect
that this game, while not a mega-hit, will
have quite a few devoted followers.
(Discs of Tron is not a new AMOA in-
troduction; I had spotted it in arcades
before the show.)

Elevator Action

You are a top-secret agent who must
sneak through a heavily guarded enemy
defense building and steal secret docu-

Elevator Action

ments. You must progress through the
building taking elevators (a la Keystone
Kops), shoot enemy agents, and pick
up files hidden behind special red doors.
While far from a state-of-the-art

endeavor, Elevator Action is playable
and mildly addictive. (The game play
reminds me of the fairly enjoyable
coin-op game, Mappy, from Bally).
Another 1 25 hours shot.

Body Check Hockey

Body Check Hockey is another defi-
nitely not-state-of-the-art offering, but it
is still fun to play. You force your oppo-
nents into the walls of the playing arena,
just as hockey players body check each
other. A hockey puck is also pushed
around the screen for additional leverage
against the opposing players. While I
can't call it addictive, I can say that
Body Check Hockey is pleasant to
play — a game I would probably spend
about 50 hours fooling around with.

Spy Hunter

Spy Hunter is one of the very first
driving game shoot-'em-ups. It is con-
structed around the well known James
Bond driving theme, in which Our Hero
is in a car pursued by villains, including
tire-slashing enemy vehicles and threat-
ening helicopters. The hero's car has an
800-horsepower turbo fuel-injected en-
gine and is, of course, specially equipped
with all kinds of advanced equipment,
including smoke screen emitters, oil
slick ejectors, and even surface-to-air
infrared heat-seeking missiles. The
theme song of Spy Hunter, appropriately
is The Theme from Peter Gunn.

At the start of the game, your car
emerges from the back of a truck. After
out-maneuvering and destroying various
enemy vehicles, you must maneuver
your car up a ramp, and back into the
rear of the truck.

The aerial view of Spy Hunter is not
as dramatic as the driver point-of-view
found in games such as Pole Position
and TX-1. Nevertheless, the game is fun
to play — for a while.

Bouncer

Bouncer has fine, detailed graphics.
The action takes place in one of my
favorite places, a barroom. A big, fat
bouncer is activated by the player. The
bouncer's rather tasteless mission is to
clobber patrons, most of whom are
decidedly smaller than himself, and
expel them from the bar.

Not to be a moralist, but the bouncer
displays anti-social tendencies as he
stomps on customers, and dribbles their
heads (yes, you read it right) as he
makes his way to the front door to eject
the hapless bouncees. (Question: why
bounce a headless person — why not just
bury him?)

Bouncer no doubt will be highly
popular in redneck bars. Its most fanatic
devotees no doubt will be frustrated sa-
dists (you know, the ones who blasted

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Peter Fonda off his motorcycle in Easy
Rider).

Track And Field

Track And Field reminds me of
Activison's quasi-physical home video
game, Decathlon. You push a firing but-

portion of the game struck me as a poor
man's Donkey Kong.

Although the game as a whole didn't
appeal to me, some people I met at the
Atari booth really liked it. One arcadian
with whom I talked, noting my luke-
warm reaction to the game proffered,

tween Pac-Man and Crystal Castles.
You control a little character who makes
dots disappear when he travels over
them. He is chased by monsters (who
didn't know that?), which can be de-
stroyed when our man runs into (you
guessed it) energizing dots.

Truck and Field

ton as fast as you can to make the on-
screen character run. You depress a
second button to make the character
jump and throw.

From one to four players can play
Track And Field. Thus the game has in-
teresting competitive two-man team
possibilities. The five Track and Field
events are running, long jump, hurdles,
hammer throw, and high jump.

Major Havoc

A vector graphics game (a la Tem-
pest), Major Havoc combines a space
shoot -out and a maze chase. The maze

Major Havoc

"This really is a top flight game. I spent
all day yesterday playing it."

I asked him what other games he
liked. His answer: Defender and
Stargate.

If you like action shoot-'em-ups with
moderately complex controls (a hori-
zontal roller and two firing buttons), you
may go for Major Havoc.

Me? I give it 30 hours of my
time — tops.

Marvin's Maze

Marvin's Maze is a simulated three-
dimensional game, sort of a cross be-

o/tfoppoces um

"...I know we Just purchased equipment to generate graphics.... get that sign out of here!"

Marvin s Maze

Both my girlfriend and I had a lot of
trouble mastering the diagonal controls.

Evaluation: Graphics: A. Idea: B.
Play ability: C-. You may, however, see a
few Marvin's Mazes around since it
comes as a conversion kit, as well as a
full-blown game.

Donkey Kong 3

Donkey Kong 3, another climbing
game, has nice graphics and may appeal

Donkey Kong 3

February 1984 c Creative Computing

121

Coin-Op Industry, continued...

to fans of Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong
Jr., and Mario Brothers.

While I am not a devotee of the Don-
key Kong series, I discussed Donkey
Kong 3 with several people who are. The
consensus seems to be that Donkey
Kong 3 is not as much fun as its
predecessors.

The rest of the games at the show, in
my opinion, are strictly forgetitsville. In-
terestingly, all of them are laser games.

Bega's Battle

You "catch" the heroine of the piece,
Luna, and help to save mankind by
shooting and destroying descending ob-
jects. Other characters from the game
periodically come and help you in your
efforts.

The theme didn't bother me nearly as
much as the game play. There is no
doubt that Bega's Battles, an interactive
laser game, uses advanced technology.
But its payability just doesn't hack it.

Badlands

Advertised as the ultimate laser
experience. Badlands sure doesn't get
my vote. You shoot the bad guys before
they shoot you. You must not shoot too
early, and, of course, you are in deep
trouble if you shoot too late. Badlands is
basically a very expensive test of your
reflexes.

Cliff Hanger

Cliff Hanger is a laser game without
superimposed computer graphics (like
Dragon's Lair). It suffers from the same
disadvantages as Dragon's Lair. The de-

Cliff Hanger

lay between screens is too long, and the
game deteriorates into strictly a memory
exercise, due to the decision-tree nature
of laser-only games.

When you lose a life, you see a body
swinging from a scaffold. Show attend-
ees must have been turned off by this
scene, and said so, because signs pre-
pared by Stern suddenly appeared
notifying us that the cadaver-hanging
scene could be omitted, if desired,

122

through some kind of dip switch
adjustment.

Laser Gran Prix

The lesson to be learned here: don't
display a game until it is ready. Laser
Gran Prix is an attempt to superimpose
computer graphics on a laser back-
ground. It didn't work. The cars look as

Laser Gran Prix

though they are floating down the speed-
way rather than being driven. The
transitional scenes are abrupt and un-
convincing. If you steer too far in one
direction, your car drops out of sight.

In my opinion, Taito did themselves
more damage than good by showing this
game to the public prematurely.

Goal To Go

The concept behind this game sounds
good on paper:

"How about an interactive laser foot-
ball game, in which the player can call
the plays and see how well he has done,
by watching them acted out by real live
football teams on the screen?"

Something happened in the transition
from idea to game. People (myself in-
cluded), who tried to play Goal To Go
were totally confused about what they
were supposed to do. The same old se-
quence showing the quarterback being
sacked, appeared on the screen over and
over and over again.

Let's hope this game was a very
preliminary prototype. The Stern repre-
sentative who tried to demonstrate it
to me couldn't get the Goal to Go to
work himself. When I asked him de-
tailed questions about the game, he
disappeared very quickly.

Conclusions

The Big Surprise

As I said earlier, most industry
observers expected laser games to be the
highlight of AMOA. It turned out, in
my opinion, that just the opposite was
true:

• Of the five four-star games (see Ta-

ble 1), only one (Star Rider) is a laser
game, and the laser feature is only in-
cidental to its being a successful game.

• Of the seven three-star games, only
three are laser games (all interactive
lasers).

• The five games I liked the least
(numbers 19 through 23 on Table 1) are
all laser games.

Dave Ahl established the practice of
giving (verbal) awards to participants at
industry shows, in various categories. I'll
continue this tradition.

The Coin-Op Industry's
Biggest Myth

. . . that laser games will bail out the
industry.

It is not laser disc, fellows, it is
payability! Sure, lasers will help to the
extent that they will make possible more
convincing graphics. Lasers, particularly
good interactive ones, {not Bega's Battle
or Laser Gran Prix) can also help to
make games more playable. But I urge
the manufacturers to look upon laser
discs as the means, not the end (as many
apparently did at AMOA), to good
games.

Best Game
Introductions:
Bally Midway

Bally introduced four fine games, one
four-star game (Pac-Man Junior), two
three-star games (Astron Belt and Discs
of Tron), and a two-star game (Spy
Hunter).

I hope Mssrs. Marofski and Janoski
(president and marketing exec, of Bally)
are now convinced that I have no hard
feelings. (Bally filed a lawsuit to prevent
me from publishing Mastering Pac-Man.
Happily for me, and Pac-Man pattern-
players, the lawsuit failed.)

Best Job of Snatching

Defeat From the Jaws

of Victory: Atari

This year Atari has been the industry
coin-op leader, with about 65% of the
total business. They had planned to in-
troduce their first laser game, Firefox, at
AMOA. There was a huge sign at the
Atari booth heralding the advent of the
game. There were also two Firefox cabi-
nets, one regular size, and the other,
absolutely huge.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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Coin-Op Industry, continued...

Rumors were circulating that Clint
Eastwood would make an appearance to
promote Firefox (the game title is taken
from the Eastwood movie of the same
name; the theme of the game is based on
Clint's exploits while stealing a top se-
cret Russian jet).

Atari didn't make it. One Atari per-
son told me that there were last minute
"technical problems."

Atari did introduce two fine driving
games. TX-1 and Pole Position II. But
both could be considered merely exten-
sions of Pole Position I, which we have
all been playing for months. The only
non-driving introduction made by Atari

The large version of

Firefox, when

introduced, is going to

be a blaster.

was the fairly uninteresting Major
Havoc.

I have a feeling, by the way, that the
large version of Firefox, when in-
troduced, is going to be a blaster. The
cabinet has to be seen to be believed. The
controls appear fully as sophisticated as
those you would find on some real air-
craft. The player's seat is even up-
holstered. The action will take place on a
huge screen in front of the cabinet.

The big version of Firefox will cost
the operators- -get this — somewhere be-
tween S 13.000 and 514,000. Yes, this
does have repercussions for us players,
as you will see when you read about the
following award.

Worst News For Thrifty
Players: Firefox

I am told on good authority that the
large version of Atari's Firefox will have
the industry's first dollar bill accepter.
Now, come on! Haifa buck a game is
bad enough. A dollar is outrageous!

Second Best Games:
Williams

Williams, in my opinion, held a strong
second place position at AMOA, behind
Bally. They introduced two fine games.
Blaster and Star Rider (I gave them both

124

four stars). Not only that, but Williams
also introduced an interesting novelty
game, called Rat Race.

Games That Need The
Most Work:
Stern

The two games from Stern placed 21st
and 23rd, out of 23. Cliff Hanger, a me-
too Dragon's Lair, might be made effec-
tive by the super-imposition of real-time
computer graphics onto the laser back-
ground, thus preventing it from being
solely a memory exercise. A change of
this magnitude is probably not practical
at this stage in the development of the
game.

Goal to Go, which ran 23rd in a field
of 23, might be salvageable if the action
on the screen could be related to the
player's actions on the control panel by
blending in real-time computer action.
For example, the player might control
the path of the football during a pass, to
reach receivers who have been pro-
grammed on the laser disc to run pre-
determined pass patterns. Here again,
the company may consider such a
modification to be totally impractical at
this late stage in development.

I would respond that, if you the com-
pany has the funds, they would be well
advised to invest a few million more to
develop a possible winner, than to try to

market what is destined to be a sure
loser.

Most Notable
Non-Introduction

I have come to expect the unexpected
from Nolan Bushnell, and he didn't dis-
appoint. At his Sente booth, there was
absolutely nothing to see, except a batch
of cards that said, "Not to be opened
until Dec. 9, on the outside.

Inside, was a detachable button that
read,

"No Comment. SENTE"
• • •

Yea, there should be some even more
exciting games at the next AMOA (or
AOE or ASI, depending on the outcome
of the Coin-op War). I predict that the
effective blending of laser background
and superimposed real-time foreground
may be the news of the next show. We
haven't seen this done effectively yet.
Imagine, for example, the fabulous back-
ground of a M.A.C.H. 3, with the
playability of a Blaster. Now there's a
game we could all get hooked on.

On second thought, perhaps they
shouldn't develop such a game. It would
cost me, for one, over $500 in quarters,
to say nothing of the 1000 hours or so
during which I could be doing some-
thing more constructive (like playing
River Raid at home). 32

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CIRCLE 137 ON READER SERVICE CARD

The CBasic Clinic

Session Four

John A. Libertine

In our last session, you were introduced 10 one of the most
powerful attributes of CBasic, its file handling procedures. The

programs were, of course, very elementary; but they contain
many of the elements needed lor the most complex
applications.

Before we start on new material, let's go back and fill in a
lew holes. It would be helpful if you had a printout of the two
programs from Part 3. We might start by breaking files down
into their parts. I will use an analogy which is far from original
but does get the idea across. Think of the entire File as a file
cabinet with several drawers. Each drawer represents a Record.
For example, if the whole cabinet consisted of customer
records, we could call the file Customer. fil. Each drawer
(record) might be for a single customer. Now, look in one
drawer. It will be filled with file folders. Each folder would be a
Field. If you can remember this simple analogy, you should be
able to unders'and the jargon. A file contains one or many
records. Each record contains one or many fields. Simple, isn't
if

Here is a more specific breakdown. Let's go along with call-
ing the file Customer.fil. Note that it follows the CP/M
convention for a file name: up to eight characters followed by
an optional extension name of up to three characters. If the
extension is used, the period is mandatory.

Okay, our file name is Customer.fil. It will contain several
records, each a specific customer. Records do not have names.
Think of a record as a full line on your screen containing sev-
eral different variables. For example:

VARIABLES.VARIABLE^.VARIABLE
is a single record containing three variables (each called a
field). The first is a siring, the second an integer, and the third a
real number variable. The length of a record can be as short as
one variable or as long as necessary. The commas in the line
above act as separators (delimiters is the computer term) be-
tween each field. The end of a record is indicated by a carriage
return plus a linefeed. In other words, the end of a line.

The fields within each record are individual variables each of
which can consist of up to .11 characters. For example, a couple
of fields might be: Customer. address. one$ or
ABC.Mfg.Co.AddressS. Note that in these cases, we are using a
string variable (the S at the end indicates that). Some fields
might be integer or number variables like Fart. Number 1 "; or
Total. sales.

Or we might show this more graphically as in Table 1.

John A I ibcrtinc, rhe Four Corners, Hanover, MA 02339.

128

File Records

CUSTOMER.FIL Record #1

Fields

COMPANY. NAMES
NAME.AND ADDRESSS
CITY.ST.ZIPS
Record #2 COMPANY.NAMES

NAME.AND.ADDRESSS
CITY.ST.ZIPS
and so forth. . .

Table I.

You may think we have spent a great deal of time on what
appears to be a simple, basic fact; but the truth is that this no-
menclature is used over and over in most of the literature and
documentation you will read. It is important to understand the
concept

Variables In A File

Now. a word about variables in a file. Look back at the two
programs we used in Part 3. You will see that in both programs
we used the variables ADDIS, ADD2S, and ADD3S for three
address lines (three fields). The files do not store the variable
names. They simply store a string, an integer, or a real number
in the order you designate. This means that you do not have to
use the same variable name to access the fields.

For example, you could re-write the PRINTER. BAS pro-
gram and change the above three variables to ADDRESS1S or
LINE1S or whatever. It is only important that you have the
same type of variable (string, integer, or real) and that you have
the same number of variables in each record. In the ease of the
PRINTER. BAS program, you must read out four string fields
followed by three real number fields. Specifically, you could
change the line numbered 20 to read:

20 BEAD#1 ; L I NE 1 S . L I NE2S . L I NE3S , L I NE4S .
NUM1 , NUM2.NUM3

Of course, if you do this, you also have to use the same vari-
able names for printing out the field. For example, in the line
following line 20, you would have to change PRINT NAMES
to read PRINT LINE1S. Furthermore, it is not necessary to
have two separate programs to use this convention. Once a file
has been written to and then closed, you can re-open it and
read it with entirely different variable names.

Why go through this rigamarole? One reason might be docu-
mentation. You write the file opening routine with long vari-
able names which make the program easier to understand and
simpler to debug. Later, when you want to print it out, you
could use simple, short variables to save time and space. Or as
in the case of our last session, you might use one program to
access the files written with another. It might make more sense
to use different variables for clarity. In any case, you should

February 1984 Creative Computing

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CIRCLE 305 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CBasic Clinic, continued.. .

now understand that CBasic writes types of variables to a file
rather than the exact variable names you give it.

We learned last session that the type of files we have used so
far are sequential or stream files. This means you can read a file
only in the exact order in which it was written. Next session,
we will go into random access files, which allow you to go di-
rectly to any given record in the file. However, almost every-
thing we have discussed about sequential files will be applicable
to random access files as well.

Again, look at the BOWLING. BAS program. You will re-
call we created the file with the FILE statement. This opens an
existing file or creates one if it does not exist. The other way to
create a file is with (oddly enough) the CREATE statement.

Remember, if you use CREATE, it unquestioningly creates a
new file even if an old one exists with the same name. It erases
the old file. The correct way to open an existing file is either
with FILE or, more commonly, with the OPEN statement. The
second program from Part 3 (PRINTER. BAS) uses this
method just above line 20.

There is one more difference between 111 I. and CREATE that
you must watch for. You can create a new file with CREATE us-
ing either the literal file name (enclosed in quotes) or a variable:

CREATE "FILENAME EXT" AS 1

CREATE FILES AS 1

Assuming you have previously defined FILES as a file name,
either of these will work fine. Not so with the FILE statement.

CBasic writes types of variables to a

file rather than the exact variable

names you give it.

This must use a variable only as: FILE FILES. Notice that AS 1
is not needed when you use the in I statement. The lowest un-
used file number (between I and 20) is automatically assigned to
the file.

If you think this is so obvious that I am belaboring a point,
take a look at the bottom of page 129 in the CBasic User Guide.
Even the experts can goof. They show an example of the file
statement which uses a literal file name instead of a variable. If
you copied this example, you would get a compiler error. File
handling is a little tricky. Learn the rules right — the first time.
It will save you untold headaches in the future.

If you wrote several different records to our BOWLING. FIL
last session, you may have noticed an odd printout of the Three
String Average. Unless by chance the average was a whole
number, you might have gotten an average like: 189.73542973.
This is an awkward percentage at best.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could specify that you want the
percentage rounded off to the second decimal place? There is
just such a way to control the printout so you can specify ex-
actly how your numbers will be rounded off. You can also use
the same method to make your output come out in dollars
and cents formats. This can be done with the print using
statement.

Let's take a look at a regular PRIN1 sialement and then a
PRINT using statement:

PRINT "The average is:";AVERAGE

PRINT "The average is:";

PRING USING "###.##"; AVERAGE
(Note the semicolon at the end of the first line above. It will
cause the next program line to print out on the same line.)

130

Another variation would be:

PRINT USING "The average i s :###.##", AVERAGE

The final variation we will discuss would be:

PRINT USING FORMATS; AVERAGE
In this last example FORMATS will have been previously de-
fined as: LET FORMATS = "The average is: ffjf ar.3f #"

If you use WordStar, you have already seen how a 3? charac-
ter can be used to represent a number (in the case of WordStar.
a page number). The same basic idea is used in CBasic but on a
much more sophisticated and expanded level. The :=:£#.##
in our example above is a map or matrix or format which the
computer will fill in with actual numbers. In this case, we are
saying to the computer: Print out a three-digit number then a
period, then round off to two decimal places. He assured this is
a true round off, not a truncation, lor example, 123.3345 will
round off to 123.33, and 123.33567 will round off to 123.34.

Even if the number has fewer than three digits, there is no
problem. The computer will print out a space in place of the
first (or second) digit. If the number (urns out to be a fractional
decimal, it will print a leading zero then a period then two
places. Examples: 123.456789 will printout as 123.46; 12.3 will
printout as 12.30, and .345678 will printout as 0.35.

PRINT USING

The PRINT using statement has many variations including
use with strings. For now, we will just stick with the simpler
numeric forms. You have already seen how to use it with regu-
lar numbers to round off decimal places. Now we are going to
use it lo produce dollars and cents formatted output. Look ai
this line:

PRINT "Total sales for the quarter were:";

PRINT USING "SS###, #####"; TOTAL SALES

PRINT "Total sales for the quarter were:";

PRINT USING FORMATS; TOTAL SALES

(Assuming FORMATS = "SSttm. #»#.#»"!

This is very similar to our first example. Here we say the
largest figure expected is 999,999.99. But notice the two dollar
signs at the beginning of the format string? This is a convention
which says: Float a single dollar sign just to the left of the first
printed digit. Thus the dollar sign will print correctly for
$999,999.99 as well as for $1,234.56 or $12.00.

The commas indicate you want comma formatting. Actually,
you can put the correct number of commas (in this case two)
anywhere in the format string ("$$„####:£ # .##" or
"$$# ##„###.##") and they will automatically be posi-
tioned, but that leads only to confusion, and most good pro-
grammers place the commas in the position in which they are
to print.

Study the sections on print USING in your documentation or
in CBasic User Guide for more details, but this will give you a
fairly good start.

There is one further advantage to prini i SING. The print-
outs can be automatically aligned on the decimal point. CBasic
does this by adding spaces at the left of each formatted print-
out. If we represent a space with the lowercase s, you can see
the actual printout in the left column and the way your com-
puter sees it in the right:

S123 .456 . 78

S1 .234 . 56

$12 . 34

S123 ,456. 78
ssS1 ,234 . 56
sssssS 1 2 . 34

= SS###. ###.## = S $###,#####
There is a slight catch to aligning on decimal points. The key
is to be sure the first printed character or space starts in the
same column position for each line. If the numbers are the very
first thing to print in a line, it is easy because each number
starts at column 1 (or on some machines). Most times, how-
February 1 984 Creative Computing

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CBasic Clinic, continued...

ever, that will not be the case. We need a way to line up wher-
ever you want to start on a line. Enter the tab function.

TAB

The structure of a tab function is quite simple: TAB (num-
ber or variable). For example: TAB(23) or TAB (N%). Here 23
or N% means column 23 or column N%. It works very much
the way the tab key on your typewriter works and will tab on
either your screen or printer (whichever is active for printout).

Do watch for one problem. If you already have something
printed out on a line, the tab position must be beyond this point
or you will get a carriage return plus a linefeed, and your print-
out will be on the next line. Example: If you print out a string
which ends at column 50, the tab must go to at least column 51.
If in this case you tab to column 25, it will print at column 25
of the next line down.

Following are some typical examples of the use of the tab
function:

PRINT TAB(35);"« The asterisk marks
co I umn 35"

PRINT "The average for 3 strings is:"
: TAB (40) ;

PRINT USING "###.##"; AVERAGE. STRING

PRINT TAB( 10) ; NUMBER 1%; TAB (20) , NUMBER2%;
TAB (30) ;NUMBER3%

LPRINTER

Before we go into this month's program, let me ask if you
have done your homework. Did you look into the lprinter
and console statements? Bottom line: When you start a
CBasic program, it assumes (defaults) the console statement
is active. All printouts appear on your screen. If you then type
lprinter (it must be the only statement on a line, except a

rem can follow it), everything from then on will print on your
printer instead. To stop printer output and go back to the
screen, type console (again as the only statement on the line)
and back you go to screen printout. This back and forth switch-
ing is called a toggle — on and off. There is one important excep-
tion to all this. An input statement will always print out on the
screen, even if LPRINTER is active.

Well, we have reached the end of another session. Now you
have your work cut out for you. Take a look at the program
listing for this month. See if it makes logical sense from just
reading it. Most of the material we have discussed in this ses-
sion is included, so you can actually see it in action. Type it out
on your word processor, store it (call it SESSION4.BAS), com-
pile it (CBAS2 SESSION4), correct errors and recompile if
necessary, and run it (CRUN2 SESSION4). Be sure your
printer is ready, since most printouts are directed to it.

Incidentally, the programs we have used in previous sessions
were very short, and I am assuming that you have enough disk
space to hold a word processing or text editing program plus
the CBasic programs (CBAS2.COM and CRUN2.COM) plus
the .BAS program plus the .INT program. Until now, these last
two shouldn't have occupied more than 2K to 4K. However,
when you get into longer programs, you will want to put them
on another disk. Depending upon your computer and its disk
configuration, this listing will occupy from 5K to 9K for the
BAS program plus 3K or 4K for the .INT.

To use a second disk, just add the disk prefix (usually B:)
when you create the program (B-.SESSION4.BAS). Then do the
same when you compile and run the program (i.e., CBAS2
B:SESSION4 or CRUN2 B:SESSION4). This also applies to
any files you may include within a program. For example, in
this month's program, you would change the file name to
B:EXAMPLES.FIL. 72

132

CIRCLE 184 ON READER SERVICE CARD

February 1984 Creative Computing

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CIRCLE 124 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CBasic Clinic, continued...

Listing I.

'SESSI0N4.BAS" LISTING, Page 1

REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM
REM

REM
REM
REM
REM

LISTING OF "SESSION4.BAS" PROGRAM

Note that In this program the input and
output routines have been intermixed and
even placed out of order. This is not good
programming. It is done to illustrate the
versatility of CBASIC and the methods by
which you can go from one module to another
(with GOSUBs, GOTOs, etc.)

Try to follow the logic of the program even
though it "jumps" back and forth.

Since you have a printed listing of this program,
it is not necessary that you enter all the "REM"
statements. Especially the long ones like this
one and the one above!

REM Clear screen

THIS IS A SAMPLE PROGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE

USE OF FILES AND FORMATTED PRINTING IN THE"

GOSUB 10000

PRINT "

PRINT" CBASIC LANGUAGE"

PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT

INPUT "HIT <RETURN> OR <ENTER> TO START PROGRAM" ; LINE DUMMY$

GOSUB 10000 REM Clear screen

FileS = "Examples.fi 1" REM Assign variables

FormatlS = "tll.il"

Format2S = "$$ll , III , Ml . II"

Format3S = "The answer is: $$11,111,111.11"

FILE FILES REM Create file with "FILE" statement

IF END II THEN 10 REM If new file, goto input routine.

REM If existing file go to next line

REM to start printout

100 READ II; F$,L$,B,Y,S,N1,N2,N3
REM
REM
REM
REM

REM Note that file is being read out
with DIFFERENT variables than
were entered. However, the types
of variables (2 strings followed by
6 real numbers) is the same.
FILE HAS BEEN READ INTO MEMORY."

PRINT "

PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT

INPUT "HIT <RETURN> OR <ENTER> TO PRINTOUT" ; LINE DUMMY$

GOTO 20 REM Goto printout routine

IF YOU ARE READY TO PRINTOUT, BE SURE YOU"
HAVE PAPER IN PRINTER (ROLL OR CONTINUOUS FORM)'
AND PRINTER IS READY"

10 REM

INPUT

GOSUB

REM

OPEN F

REM

Start of input rout i
"Type your FIRST name: ";LINE FIRSTS

"Now, type your LAST name: ";LINE LASTS

"Type the year of your birth: ";BIRTH

"Type THIS year: ";YEAR

"Type the amount of salary you would like to"
"earn next year (any figure up to $9 million)"
"Go ahead, be greedy! USE FIGURES ONLY WITHOUT"
"DOLLAR SIGNS OR COMMAS (Example: 234567 . 00) "; SALARY

Type any number from 1 to 999:

;NUMBER1

"Type another number from 1 to 999: ";NUMBER2

"And one more time, from 1 to 999: ";NUMBER3
10000 REM clear screen

11; [FIRSTS, LASTS, BIRTH, YEAR, SALARY, NUMBER1 , NUMBER2 , NUMBER3
Above line puts your input into file as one record
with 8 fields (2 string & 6 numeric).
1 REM Close the file. This STORES your input.
ILES AS 1 REM Immediately re-open the file so it

can be read out. The inputs are read
into computer memory (at line 100) but
your original inputs are still stored
in the EXAMPLES. FIL file.

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February 1984 ' Creative Computing

135

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CBasic Clinic, continued...

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CIRCLE 166 ON READER SERVICE CARD

136

GOTO 100 REM Go to pre-printout routine

20 REM start of printout

GOSUB 10000 REM Clear Screen

LPRINTER REM Direct following output to printer

PRINT "Okay, ";FS;", we are going to print out some*

PRINT "interesting facts and figures about you."

LET AGE = Y - B

PRINT "As I compute it, you must be about" ; AGE; "years old.

LET TOTAL = Nl + N2 + N3

LET AVERAGE = TOTAL/3

PRINT "You typed in three numbers, remember? Those numbers add"

PRINT "up to", -TOTAL

PRINT "And the average of all three is: "; AVERAGE

PRINT " ••••••LOOK AT YOUR TERMINAL FOR INSTRUCTIONS******"

PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT: PR I NT

INPUT "Want formatted output? Just hit < return)"; LINE DUMMYS

REM Above line will print on console NOT printer!

REM Then we go back to the printer after (return).

PRINT: PRINT: PRINT

PRINT "This is a sample of formatted printing for ";FS;" ";LS

PRINT:PRINT

PRINT "The average of the three numbers entered is: ";AVERAGE

PRINT:PRINT

PRINT "The FORMATTED average is: ";

PRINT USING F0RMAT1S; AVERAGE

PRINT: PRINT

PRINT "Let's space out the three numbers you entered:"

PRINT USING FORMAT1S;N1;TAB(20) ;

PRINT USING FORMAT1$;N2;TAB(40) ;

PRINT USING F0RMAT1$;N3

PRINT "Here's another example of formatted printout:"

LET SALARY = S

LET SALARY2 = SALARY/2

LET SALARY3 = SALARY/3

LET SALARY4 ■ SALARY/4

LET GRAND. TOTAL ■ SALARY + SALARY2

PRINT TAB (35) ;

PRINT USING F0RMAT2S; SALARY

PRINT TAB (35) ;

PRINT USING F0RMAT2S.-SALARY2

PRINT TAB (35) ;

PRINT USING F0RMAT2S;SALARY3

PRINT TAB(35) ;

PRINT USING F0RMAT2S;SALARY4

PRINT TAB (25) ; "TOTAL: " ;TAB ( 35) ;

PRINT USING F0RMAT2S.-GRAND. TOTAL

PRINT: PRINT

PRINT "If all went well, the above should be lined up on"

PRINT "the decimal points."

PRINT:PRINT

PRINT USING FORMAT3S; SALARY

PRINT: PRINT

SALARY3 + SALARY4

"One last example of formatted printing:
"What is your salary (before taxes!)?"

PRINT "
PRINT

PRINT "

CLOSE 1
STOP

THIS IS THE END OF THE PROGRAM"

Type out your file to see how CBASIC stored"
your inputs. (TYPE EXAMPLES. FIL or"
TYPE B:EXAMPLES.FIL)"
I 1

REM Close file
REM End of main program. Start subroutines.
10000 REM Clear Screen Subroutine
FOR 1% * 1 TO 24
PRINT
NEXT 1%
RETURN REM Indicates end of subroutine

REM " **** IMPORTANT NOTE: If you want to run this program"
REM " again, you should erase the existing file "
REM " (ERA EXAMPLES. FIL or ERA B: EXAMPLES. FI L) . "
REM " If you do not do this, the program is set up"
REM " to skip the input routine and go directly to"
REM " the printout routine."

February 1984 ' Creative Computing

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CIRCLE 195 ON READER SERVICE CARD

"Contact BASF for warranty details.

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ENTER TOMORROW ON BASF TODAY

' 1983 B A: VIA

Audio-
Animation

Synchronized
Sight and Sound
for Atari Computers

Hudio-Animation provides a vivid
demonstration of the graphic and musi-
cal talents of the Atari computer. I run
it on a system with 32K and a disk, but
it should also run on a 24K disk system
or with 8K and cassette.

The main graphics routine is based on
the familiar dancing line algorithm. It
draws webs of colored lines on the
screen, and stores their endpoint co-
ordinates in an array so that it can erase
old lines as well as draw new ones. I
have spiced up the algorithm in several
ways.

First, I made it select new colors at
random, instead of just using the four
standard colors over and over again. If
you watch the program for a while, you
will probably be pleasantly surprised to
see what a great variety of colors that
Atari can produce: salmon pink, olive
green, and charcoal gray to name but a
few.

I have also written a routine that se-
lects musical tones to correspond to the
colors on the screen. Obviously, the
problem of selecting pleasant sounds, or
ones that are a "good match" with the
colors, is a very subjective matter, so we

Kent A. Multer

can't expect the computer to have the
aesthetic sense of a Van Gogh or a Bach.
However, the results are quite good for a
simple program.

There are four colors on the screen, so
one sound channel is assigned to each
color register. The pitch of each channel
is selected by the color number, and the
loudness of the tone is selected by the
brightness.

The program shifts randomly among
five different harmonic modes, sets of
notes that are related in some way. The

The problem of

selecting pleasant

sounds, or ones that

are a "good match"

with the colors, is a

very subjective matter.

Kent Multer, P.O. Box 496. Wilton, NH 03086.
138

five modes are defined by the five rows
of the matrix FRQ and by the data
statements that load it. The modes are:

• O-Harmonic sequence. Note 2 is
twice the frequency of note 1 . Note 3 is 3
times note 1, etc.

• 1 -Chromatic sequence. Consecutive
notes are one semitone apart.

• 2-Parallel thirds. These correspond
to every other note of the C major scale.

• 3-Diatonic sequence. A simple C
major scale.

• 4-C major chord. C, E, and G, in all
octaves.

You will note that in all harmonic
modes, color number produces a pitch
of for the sound channel. Color re-
fers to white, black, and six shades of
gray. A pitch of has the effect of turn-
ing the sound channel off (apparently
because it produces a note that is too
high to hear). Thus the neutral colors
(the grays) are accompanied by the neu-
tral sound — silence.

In selecting the loudnesses of the
other colors, I decided to make the
lightest and darkest colors produce the
quietest notes. My reasoning was that
the lightest colors are almost white, and
the darkest ones are almost black.
Therefore, the ones in the middle must

February 1 984 c Creative Computing

them more closely.

To do the fades, the program stores
the current colors and brightnesses in
the arrays CHROM and LUM, respec-
tively. This means that if you see (or
hear) something that you really like, you
can stop the program by hitting break
or system reset and print out the
numbers in the array so you can use
them in your own programs.

When you look at the program, you
may wonder what line 1070 is for. It pre-
vents the computer from going into "at-
tract mode." (This term is a carry-over
from the arcade game world, and refers
to what a game does when it is sitting
around not being played.) After about

be the most colorful (you might say
loudest) colors, so they should produce
the loudest sounds.

When switching to a new color, in-
stead of a sudden flash, the program
does a smooth fade by stepping through
all intermediate values of color and
brightness. The musical tone changes in
step with the color. The speed of the
fades is set by the delay factor that the
program asks you to type in. Zero is the
fastest. Using larger delay factors slows
down the fades so that you can observe

February 1984 c Creative Computing

nine minutes of running without any
keys being pressed, the computer begins
randomly switching all the colors every
few seconds. This is supposed to save
you from burning an image into the
screen of your TV set if you should hap-
pen to walk away and forget to turn it
off.

However, our program is already
changing the colors every few seconds,
so we don't need any help, thank you.
Location 77 is used as a timer for attract
mode, so by frequently resetting it to 0,
we can prevent attract mode from mess-
ing up our display when we leave it run-
ning for a long time.

You may wish to modify this pro-
gram, and try out your own ideas about
how to generate pleasing combinations
of colors and sounds. I trust that you
will find Audio-Animation to be an eye-
and ear-catching demonstration of the
power of your computer. B

139

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CIRCLE 150 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Audio Animation, continued.

Listing 1

3 PEM

4 PEN

1 IV?, •H"<lic.-»r,i„,»Uor," »<jw>t«d bv K.nt A. Mul t.r.

6 REM Main ^roarair. b* T. Q. Marshall.

7 REM

10 ? "How manv 1 1 Mt" 1 1 INPUT U

15 ? "Delay factor"; : INPUT TIME

'' M« :• I .u.. vi UOIDIM R<4>

25 DIM LHPOM. 4 i.LUMi 4 ■

It r^.l'tj' =C,:V " ' '"••>«' I »-9tV2. I .=0=NEXT I

46 8RAPHICS 23:h=-1:N.vTC0L = 3:DRi:0L-0:H«PM0N V -i

48 FOR 1-0 TO 4ICHR0H- I . = ci:ujn. I -OlSETCOLOR I.e.eiNEXT I

50 :<i-w;=3e:vi.ij>=40:x2<w.=ioa«v2<u»=3e »>».»« next i

%l Go'suB^e 4,R - l - S *<'NT<RND<0>*7>-3>.N6XT I

M M" UL-r,RC0L*l.IF DRCOL-4 THEN CRC0L-1 : COLOR DRCOL
tie FOR COUNTER- 1 TO INT<RND<e>*ie>+ie

lie h=h-m

130 IF n»© THEN U-UIQOTO 150
140 U=H-1

150 I '" '»Vl<«>-VliX2<ft>-X2IV2<rt>»V2<U)

lbO X1<A>-XKA>+R< l .IVKA).Vl<ft)tR. 2>i _ .

[F :::•»■ rHEN R< , 2<A>*R<4>

J» ' HE,J R<4>— R<4>IV A>-fR<4>

ISO PLOT XKA>.Vl(A>iDRMITO m •

190 IF H-ld THEN R-0:.,
200 R=M*1

KR>.Vl<R>iO«rtMTO Mt

IF m=I.I THEN H»-l

UNTERIG01
496 REM

kh M »-»»>»-«»__.._..__ »——««=«—»=■■■■»■______

47«S

510

536
53?
538

540

lOOO
1001

1005

1010

1015

loi 7

in u
1040
1045
1050

1070

ieee

1996
1998

2018

2020

■1 Initialization routine for tha the InrMM ml

DIM FR0<4. 15>

™* ! " T " 4IF0R J=0 TO 151REMD F« FRO- I . J .=Fi NEXT J:Nt

(.„!„ 0- -43, 121. 81. -rM. 4. .40.33,29.53,96.32,162.144.136,128

0.243, 230. 21 7.204, 193. 182, 173, 162, 153. 144. 136, 128. 121.
ChTh 0.243,193,162. 1 28, 108, 91 , 72, 60, 47. 40, 31 , 53, 91 , 144, 243
IhTh 0, 121, 108,96.91,81.72.64.60.53,47.45.40,35,31,29
J£ M H ' ^-60.47,40,29,243,193.162,121,96
REM =-—»——«»».»■■.„„_„„_,

114, 108

■■■lor selection and f ad i n* subroutine.
REM

MXTCOL "NXTCOL -M
IF NXTCOL-3 THEN NXTCOL-4
Ih NXTCOL-5 THEN NXTCOL-0
IF NXTCOL-4 THEN FOR 1=1 TO 999INEX1 I
I NEW INT< RND< «*16 >ILNEU . Mill (RND' u •*8>
IF CNEU>CHR0M<4) hUC' LNEU«LUM> 4 • THEN 1010

IF im.|-ni..n„,, ., then HARMONY-HARMONY*! I IF HhRMONV-5 THEN HARMONV-e
CHROH<NXTCOI -CHROM< NXTCOI -♦SQNCCNEU-CHRWK NXTCOL >>
i i ih. NXTCOL >=LUM. t<: i , m . LNEU-I i in. NXTCOL • •

'I OR NXTCOI ■ HROM< NXTCOL ■ . L i it 1 ■ NXTCi

aosuB

FOR I-

1 ro riMEtNE:

selection subroutine

H= LUMCNXTCOI i I Ml u OR CHRON< NXTCOI • .NEW THEN QOTO 1020

RETURN
REM

REM Musical tone

REM

1 -HhNIii :ii CHANNEL-4 THEN CHANNEL'S

I hE."E.' LUII

SOUND CHANNEL. FRQ<HARMONV.CHROM<NXTl OL i i. In. INT' J •!♦",.,

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CIRCLE 183 ON READER SERVICE CAM)

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February 1984 c Creative Computing

I NlMfl

■ AMrtts

«#•-

Clty/Stltt Zip

Blending Parabolas On The TRS-80

Kimball M. Rudeen

. Jriting a program to draw straight lines is not very difficult.
There are several ways to draw lines connecting any arbitrary
set of points. Curved lines are another problem entirely. When a
programmer wants a curve, he usually must find some equation
that will generate it for him. This is fine for circles, ellipses, or if
your education in analytic geometry extends a bit further, parabolas
and hyperbolas. But if the figure you want doesn't fit one of
these categories, you have a problem.

I once tried to create a Valentine heart for my wife, using the
spiral of Archimedes. This is a simple equation producing a
spiral described as -one half of a heart shaped figure." Draw two
of these spirals from the same point, one clockwise and one
counter-clockwise, and you have a heart. In theory, that is. In
fact, what you have is a skinny thing that becomes a heart only
after an evening of fudging, patching, and swearing.

Fortunately, there is a better way. 1 recently took a very good
course in computer graphics, courtesy of my employer. This
course presented several method* for constructing and shaping
curves. This article describes one of the simpler methods, parabolic
blending.

Pftrabolic blending begins with a means of generating a parabola
connecting three arbitrary points. Suppose we wish to draw a
line between two points (XA.YA) and (XB.YBt. This can be
done using the equations

X=XB«T+XA*I1-T)
and

Y=YB'T+YA»(1-T»
This can be more compactly expressed as the single equation
(l>iX<T>.Y<Tt)=<XB.YB)«T+<XA.YA)*<l-T)

Kimb;ill M. Rudeen, J3S l .»>■» t-n Si., 1 enlngion, M \ 02173.

142

As the value of T goes from to 1 . the value of the two equations
will range from (XA.YA I to (XB.YB). For T between and 1.
the two equations will produce points on the straight line connecting
the two points. This method is known as parametric representation.
The X and Y values of the line are defined as functions of a third
value, the parameter T.

Parametric representation uses three points to define a parabola.
The parametric equations for a parabola are as follows:
(2)(X(T).Y(T))-(XA.YA)'(TB-T)*(TC-T)/(TB-TA)*(TC-TA»)+

(XB.YB)»(TA-T)»(TC-T)/((TA-TB)*(TC-TB))+

< XC , YC )•< T A-T)»< TB-TI/UT A-TC )•< TB-TC »
for numbers TA. TB. TC. TA<TB<TC. and the parameter T
starts at TA and goes through TB to TC. TA. TB. TC can have
any convenient value so long as the relative order TA< TB <,TC
is maintained. In this article. I shall call points of this kind
reference values. Note that for T=TA. (X(T),Y(T))=( XA.YA)
and similarly for T=TB and T=TC. As T goes from TA to TC.
the points generated fall on the unique parabola connecting
(XA.YA).lXB.YB) and (XC.YC). In effect, the parabola is formed
by generating a weighted average of the three points. Equation
(1) is the parametric equation for a straight line, with reference
values TA=0 and TB=1.

Parametric representation could be used to connect more
than three points. This is done simply by following the pattern
shown in equation (2). and forming functions using T and the

reference values Tl TN such that for T=TI. the function for

(XI.YI) is equal to 1 and the functions for all other points are
equal to zero. Curves generated in this way will always pass
through the set of points defining the curve. However, it is hard
to see how to write a program which could generate all the
functions for an arbitrary number of points. Also, the curves
generated in this way tend to be very "wiggly.** That is. while the
curve will go through the points (Xl.Ylt through (XN.YNl. in
between it is liable to take on extremely large or small values of

February 1984 ' Creative Computing

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Curve Design, continued...

(X.Y). This method is therefore not very useful for craohic
curve generation. *" H

Another possibility is to construct a curve connecting a set of
points out of parabolas by drawing a parabola first from PI to P2
to P3 then from PI to P4 to P5. and so on. But this approach
would not connect an even number of points. Also, the curve
generated tends to have cusps, or sharp corners, where the
parabolas join.

Blending Parabolas

The way to get more than a simple parabola between three
points is by blending pairs of parabolas together. As an example
consider Figure I. Two overlapping parabolas have been drawn
between points PI. P2, PI and P2. P3. P4. This was done by
applying equation 1 2) to PI. P2. PX and P2. P3. P4 and usinu
reference values 1.0. 2.0. 10, 4.0. The first parabola was generated
using reference values 1 .0. 2.0. .1.0 and the second using reference-
values 2.0. 3.0. 4.0. Now comes the blending. This is done in
much the same manner as was used to draw a straight line
between two points in equation < 1 >. However, instead of applying
to two single points, the method is applied to pairs of points.
There are two step to the priHxss.

First, as T goes from T2 to T3, it is applied in two separate
parabolic equations of type (2l to generate points (XF(T).YF(T))
and (XS(T).YS(T)) on the first and second parabolas.

Next, the same value of T is used in the following equation to
blend the two points into one point-
(3MX(T>.Y<T))=(XS<Tl.YS<T))*(T-T2>/T3-T2i +

(XF(T).YF(T))»(T.VT) (T3-T2)
which for reference values T2=2.0. T3=3.0 becomes
(X(T).Y(T))=(XS(T).YS(T))*iT-2.()l + (XF(T).YF(Tin3.0-T)
As T goes from 2.0 to 3.0. the points generated by equation 1 1)
range from (XF(2.0).YF( 2.0) > = P2 toiXS(3.0).YS(3.0»=P3. The
blending process uses a single value of T to compute first two
points on two parabolas and then uses the same value of T to
combine these points into a single point.

The curve generated by this blending is shown by the dotted
line in Figure 1. Notice that the dotted line merges smoothly into
the curves ending at P2 and beginning at P3.

For an arbitrary set of points PI. P2 PN it is necessary to

generate a set of parabolas connecting first PI. P2, P3. then P2,
P3, P4 and so on. Then the parabolas must be blended between
P2 and P3. etc. where they overlap. In two places, between the
first two and last two points, only a single parabola is generated.
However, these single parabolas will merge smoothly with the
blended curves.

Generating this set of parabolas requires a set of reference

values Tl. T2 TN for the parabolic equations. Again, the

only requirement is that Tl < T2 < '.... < TN. Values of T must be
generated from Tl to TN, and then loaded into parabolic and
blending equations of form (2) and (3). For any value of T, we
can determine the correct equations to use from the position of
T on the Tl-TN range. Any value on this range will be bracketed
by two reference values. For example, at some time we have
T5<T<T6. Then the reference values to use at this time are
T4. T5. T6 for the first parabola, connecting points P4. P5, P6.
and T5, T6, T7 for the second parabola. connectinK points P5.
P6. P7.

Generating A Closed Curve

The curve generated in this way is open. That is. it begins at
one point and ends at another, separate point. This same method
can be used to generate a curve that is closed, beginning and
ending at PI. It might seem to be enough just to load PI in as an

extra point and connect points PI PN. PI. However, this

does not quite do the job. For an open curve, there is only one
parabola between points PI . P2 and between points PN-1. PN. as
was mentioned earlier. Also, there is no need to draw a curve
between points PI and PN. With a closed curve, it is necessary to I

February 1984 ' Creative Computing

Figure I

generate and blend overlapping parabolas for every pair of
points. For points PI and P2. we can blend the two parabolas
connecting points PN. PI. P2 and points PI. P2, P3. For points
PN-1 and PN. we can blend the two parabolas connecting points
PN-2. PN-1. PN and points PN-1. PN. PI. Finally, for points PN
and PI. we can blend the two parabolas connecting points PN-1
PN. PI and points PN. PI. P2. This requires loading PN into the
point list as a new first point, and PI and P2 as new last points

So. we end up using points PN, PI PN. PI, P2 to generate

the closed curve. The curve begins and ends at PI. The additional
points inserted in the list as shown will provide the data to
generate and blend parabolas between every pair of points
defining the curve.

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CIRCLE 143 ON READER SERVICE CARD

145

I^H

Curve Design, continued.

Figure 2.

The Program

Listing 1 is a program implementing parabolic blending to
draw curves. It was written for my computer, a TRS-80 Model
III. There should be little difficulty in converting this program to
other machines. The program generates a curve by computing a
series of points lying on the curve and then connecting them by
straight lines.

First, the points defining the curve to be drawn are input
visually. A single screen pixel is turned on and can then be
moved anywhere on the screen. The input subroutine uses the
Model III numeric keypad as a control. This pad is laid out in
the pattern:

8 9

5 6

2 3

7
4

Pressing a number key moves the pixel in the corresponding
direction. For example, pressing the 8 key moves the pixel
straight up one unit. Pressing the 9 key moves the pixel one unit
up and one unit to the right. The pixel keeps moving as long as
the key is depressed. Note: the continuously moving pixel is
accomplished by using a special feature of the TRS-80 Model
III. Users of other computers will have to implement this capacity
differently. If it is left out. the pixel will move once every time a
key is depressed. The X.Y location of the pixel is reported at the
upper lefthand side of the screen. The pixel will not move off the
screen on any side.

Pressing key 5 selects a point defining the curve to be generated.
It will not move the pixel. The point selected will be marked by a

' . A " =

-"*

3£

■ 6

• 7

• 8

. 2

9 10

■ ■

146

Figure 3.

set pixel. Pressing key terminates visual point input.

This form of input is especially useful for curve design. It
enables you to shape a curve intuitively by nudging points on a
screen instead of refiguring X.Y coordinates. A few minutes of
experimentation will give you a good feel as to what kind of
curve is generated by a given set of points.

Once the points are entered, the program asks for the number
of line segments making up the curve. There must be at least
enough to connect every pair of points, or an error message is
output and the number of segments is requested again. The
more segments you allow, the longer the curve will take to draw
and the more precise it will be.

Next, the program sets the control points defining the curve
on the screen and branches to the appropriate subroutine to
generate an open or closed curve. Both open and closed curve

subroutines generate reference points Tl TN and a series of

T parameter values. For convenience, the reference values are

1.0, 2.0 up to N. This greatly simplifies equations (2) and (3).

since many of their factors are reduced to constant whole numbers

like 1.0.

The open curve subroutine generates and blends two sets ol
parabolic points together, except for the two cases in which only
one parabola exists. It then calls the line-drawing subroutine to
connect the previous point to the new point.

The closed curve subroutine first loads additional points into
the set of control points defining the curve to close it, as was
described earlier. The subroutine then generates and blends
parabolic points together and calls the line-drawing subroutine.
The subroutine which generates the parabolas uses equation
(3) in three steps. Again, notice that this equation has been
simplified by the reference values used.

Following curve generation, the program asks whether you
want to draw the curve again with a different number of segments
or start a new curve. Any answer other than yes or no will
terminate the program.

Parabolic blending allows you to shape curves directly, without
trying to come up with an equation to do the job. Figure 2 is a
cursive R which I was able to draw in only a few minutes. Only
ten control points were required, and I am sure it could be done
with fewer. The control points generating the R are shown in
Figure 3. numbered in the order they are connected. Ninety line
segments were used for the curve.

It is possible to generate straight lines with this program. A set
of three points only, set in a straight line, will be connected by a
very flat parabola identical to a straight line. Straight lines can
be included in a curved figure by setting five points in a straight
line. The straight line would be between the inner three points.
With parabolic blending and visual input, you are free to think
about the curve you want to draw while the computer does the
dirty work. *»

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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February 1984 c Creative Computing

147

Plotter Tutorial Part 3

_/_

Thinking
In3-r

This is the third in our series of
plotter tutorials. Like the second, it
cdso uses the Radio Shack CGP-115
plotter.

This installment picks up and ad-
vances some of the two-dimensional
mathematical concepts discussed in the
fiist tutorial. It aim shows how to display
the plots on the screen of several dif-
ferent computers. This is often a useful
technique to debug the output of a
plotting program before committing it
to paper. —DHA

Michkl van de fume. U<>\ IV Siu- 16. SSI Calgary.
Alberta. Canada T2M «N3.

Michiel van de Panne

__}i all the things that arc impressive
about computers, graphics rank high on
the list. The set of programs in this article
will have your computer expressing its
genius and thinking in three dimensions
in no time at all. At the same time you
will gain a new understanding of the way
the graphics are made.

First, a word on using the programs.
All the programs arc intended to be used
on a wide variety of machines with graphic
capabilities. I have included routines for

using the programs with Apple II. TRS-
80 Model 1 III screen. TRS-80 Model I 111
with CGP-115 plotter, and Color Computer
with CGP-115.

To use the programs, simply type them
in and add the appropriate lines given for
your computer. In addition, fill in the
values for XM and YM in line 16 with the
values given in Table 1 for your machine
and the program you are using. This last
step is not ncccssarv for machines using
the CGP-115.

For lhi>se with other types of computers,
it should be easy to write your own routine.
If you are using a screen, follow the Apple
modifications. Those with plotters should

Apple

Model 1 III

Figure la

XM= .95

YM = .95

XM= .46

YM= .23

Figure lb

XM= .95

YM= .95

XM= .46

YM= .23

Figure Ic

XM= .95

YM= .95

XM= .46

YM= .23

Figure 2

XM= .95

YM= .95

XM= .46

YM= .23

Figure 3

XM= .95

YM= .95

XM= .46

YM= .23

Figure 4

XM=1.2

YM=1.2

XM= .7

YM= .3

Figure 5

XM=1.2

YM=1.2

XM= .56

YM= .2S

Figure 6

XM=1.15

YM=1.15

XM= .54

YM= .27

Figure 7

XM= .9

YM= .9

XM= .45

YM= .225

Figure 8

XM= .7

YM= .7

XM= .34

YM= .17

Figure 9

XM= .7

YM= .7

XM= .36

YM= .18

MinX

MaxX

MinY

Max Y

Figure la

1(X)

1(K)

Figure lb

-KX)

KM)

-KK)

100

Figure Ic

-KK)

100

-KX)

100

Figure 2

-90

Figure 3

-KX)

1(K)

-100

1(X)

Figure 4

-75

Figure 5

-110

110

-75

Figure 6

-115

115

-75

Figure 7

-140

140

-50

Figure H

-150

150

-125

125

Figure 9

-175

.75

-125

125

Table 1.

148

Table 2.

February 1984 ' Creative Computing

Plotter Tutorial, continued-
find the routines for the CGP-1 15 easy to
translate.

Line 15 in your own modification should
contain the start-up routines for your
graphics device such as a clear screen or
a create origin for a plotter. It should also
contain the coordinates for the center of
your screen or paper. Line 16 should
contain appropriate scaling factors and
will vary with each figure. Table 2 should
help you decide on the values for this.
For example, the coordinates of the plot
in Figure lb vary from -100 to 100 in both
X and Y directions. To put this on a
screen of 160 by 160 pixels, you would
indicate XC I X center) and YC I Y center)
in line 15 as HO. XM and YM in line 16
would both be 0.8 so that the 200 by 200
plot would be reduced to fit the 160 by
160 screen size. Lines KXX) and on should
contain a routine to move to a point or
draw a line to a point given by X and Y.
They should be followed by a RETURN.

The only other recommendation is to
make the step size in the programs larger
for those computers that have a lower
resolution, such as the TRS-X0 Model I/III
screen.

Now to start with the actual figures.
The figures progress in complexity from
Figure la. a curve formed by straight
lines, to the three dimensional objects
depicted in Figures 5, 6. 7, and 1 which all
rank about equally in difficulty. If you
plan on understanding how one of the
harder figures is drawn, follow the ex-
planations of the figures from the be-
ginning. On the other hand, if you couldn't
care less about the trigonometry involved,
you can still benefit from the programs
without knowing ihe principles behind
them.

Smooth Curve

To begin with. Figure la is simply a
smooth curve that is formed by drawing a
set of straight lines. Some of you have
undoubtedly constructed this type of figure
before. It is also somewhat reminiscent of
the string art discussed in our first tutorial.
The math involved in this figure is simple
enough. The first line is a vertical line.
For each successive line, the line starts a
given step lower while the line ends the
same step farther to the right.

Instead of stopping at this point, a much
more interesting figure can be made by
placing four of the same curves back to
back. The resulting star pattern is shown

Figure ic

in Figure lb. But why stop here? Place
five of the star patterns together, and the
much more attractive pattern in Figure
1c can be made.

Note how a simple curve can be used
many times over to create a complex
pattern. This is the technique that is used
frequently in graphics. By repeating a
simple pattern to form larger patterns and
then repeating these larger patterns to
form even larger ones, a complex, sym-
metrical pattern can be created.

Sine Wave

The abstract flower-like patterns in Fig-
ures 2a and 2b are the first to use a

Figure la.

February 1 984 • Creative Computing

trigonometric function. In this case the
radius of all the points is determined with
a sine wave. As the radius increases or
decreases as determined by the sine wave,
the angle from the center is constantly
being increased. The actual X and Y
coordinates of the points to be plotted
are determined as follows if AN is the
angle from the center:

X=COS(AN)*RADIUS:Y = SIN(ANl*
RADIUS

Figure 2b.

The complete pattern in Figure 2a is
made by repeatedly drawing the same
pattern and multiplying the radius by a
constant each time to make each pattern
larger than the one before. Figure 2b is
much the same as Figure 2a except that it
only has three petals and each succcssivclv
larger pattern is twisted slightly with respect
to the one before it.

Figure 3 also makes use of the sine
function. In this case it gives the resulting
figure something of a three-dimensional

Figure 2a.

Figure 3a.

look. The basic pattern used to make
Figure 3c is shown in Figure 3a. This
figure is then spun around from to 1K0
degrees (0 to 3.14 radians) in steps of ten
degrees. This is exactly what Figure 3b is.

Notice that the Y coordinates remain
exactly the same. The X coordinate is
multiplied by the cosine of the angle to
give the X coordinate that is plotted. The
result of this is that it looks almost us if
the object is coming out toward you.

The completed pattern depicted in

149

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February 1984 « Creative Computing

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Plotter Tutorial, continued...

Figure 3b.

Figure 3c is made from two copies of
Figure 3b placed al 90 degrees to each
other. This is done easily enough by
switching the X and Y coordinates when
drawing the second copy. Again, a rel-
atively complex figure is made from a
simple pattern that is repeated.

Sphere

The next drawing. Figure 4. employs
the same type of construction technique
as the previous figure. This time the starting
figure is a semicircle instead of the pointed
outline in Figure 3a. The math used to
draw it is also exactly the same as in the
last figure. This time, however, the points
along the starting figure, namely the semi-
circle, are calculated instead of being given

Figure 4.

by an array as done previously.

The points along the semicircle are
calculated at five-degree intervals to ap-
proximate a real semicircle. The resulting
figure has a more three-dimensional ap-
pearance than Figure 3c because we can
all recognize Figure 4 as a sphere or a
ball.

Three-Dimensions

The complexities of drawing objects in
three dimensions first become apparent
in Figure 5. In reality, the way it is drawn
is similar to the way the sphere was drawn.
Instead of a semicircle, the pattern in
Figure 5a is spun on its axis to create the
three-dimensional object.

February 1984 ' Creative Computing

Figure .?<-.

Instead of just rotating it through 180
degrees, however, it is spun through a
complete 360 degrees (2*PI in radians).
This has both its advantages and disad-
vantages. The advantage is that the object
will look truly three-dimensional when it
is tilted at an angle so that the whole top
surface becomes visible. The disadvantage
is that all the lines you can't see in reality
(hidden lines) must be removed some-
how.

The first problem is to tilt the object so
that the top surface can be seen. This
requires you to begin to think in terms of
three dimensions. Each point on the object
has an X. Y and Z coordinate. Think of
the X and Y coordinates as being the
same as on any graph, while the Z coordi-
nate is a measure of the depth into the
paper or distance above the paper. Now
if the object is tilted up as in Figures 5c.
5d. and 5c, the X coordinate always remains
the same for a given point on the object.
All that remains is to find the Y coordinate

Figure 5a

to be plotted because this will change
depending on the depth, or Z coordinate.

To do this, the first thing we must do is
calculate the angle of the point with respect
to the center. This angle is given by ATN
( Y/Z). The distance from the X axis, which
will become the radius when the object is
tilted around the X axis, should also be
known. The distance is given by SQR(Y*Y
+ Z*Z).

Finally, to actually tilt the object a certain
number of degrees, for example 30 degrees,
simply add 30 degrees to the angle that
was just calculated. The new Y cixirdinate
of the point will be equal to SIN< ANGLE)
•RADIUS. In reality the Z coordinate
will also change when the object is tilted,
but this will not change the two-dimensional
view that is plotted.

Now all that remains to be done is to
remove the hidden lines. First, the bottom
cannot be seen so those lines can simply
be deleted. Secondly, the lines representing
the sides cannot be seen on the far side of
the object, so they can also be deleted
from the drawing.

The last remaining hidden lines are those
that might be hidden because of the inside
edge which is facing out of the paper (see
Figure 5c). These can be removed by
calculating the angle between the point
to be plotted and the corresponding point
on the inside edge. If this angle is greater
than the angle of tilt, then the point will
not be plotted. (For more on hidden line
removal, see "Hidden Surface Elimination "
in this issue. —Ed.)

The objects in Figures 5c. 5d, and 5e
all take a while to plot, so go do something
else for ten minutes. Also try tilting the
objects at different angles. Figure 5c is
tilted at 17 degrees. 5d at 35 degrees; and
5e at 50 degrees. They are all done with
40 steps.

Figure 6 is what is commonly referred

Figure 5c.

Figure 5e.

153

Plotter Tutorial, continued...

to as a torus. It is made in exactly the
same way as Figure 5. The outline that is
spun on its axis is shown in Figure 6a.
The only difference that exists in plotting
the two figures is that the hidden lines
along the outside edge are more difficult
to remove because the edges are round
rather than square. The angle between

Figure 6a

Figure 6d.

the point to be plotted and the edge possibly
blocking the view must be calculated. If
it is greater than the angle of tilt, the
point will not be drawn.

Using A Grid

A much different approach to plotting
in three dimensions is shown in Figures
7a and 7b. Instead of having only the
actual object drawn, the object is shown
as a projection from a flat plane. The
procedure for plotting the points is exactly
the same as for Figures 5 and 6. The
important difference lies in that the points
that are to be plotted lie along a grid
while with the torus the points to be plotted
lie along the radius of the object. Both
approaches result in a three dimensional
effect.

Removing the hidden lines is a fairly
involved pnx:edure once again. The highest
points along the half-sphere lie along a
line that is at an angle of 30 degrees to
the X axis or where Z=0. If the angle
between the point to be plotted and the
corresponding point in the same line of

154

Figure 7a.

Figure 7b.

sight on the sphere is greater than the
angle of tilt then the point will not be
plotted. I won't go into detail on the
trigonometry here because it is only ap-
plicable to the drawing of this half-
sphere.

There is one more point that should be
made about the half spheres in Figure 7.
Figure 7b looks much more like a half
sphere than Figure 7a. Obviously, this is
because the grid is much finer in Figure
7b. The grid is twice as fine in both the X
and Z dimensions, which makes for an
overall resolution that is four times better.
Unfortunately, this means it also takes
four times as long to draw. I recommend
the finer resolution, a step size of five, if
you have the time. The step size is given
by ST in line 20.

Figures 8 and 9 have been included to
contrast the grid method and the radii
method. The points in Figure 8 are located
along radius spaced at given angles while
those in Figure 9 are located along a grid.
Both Figures 8 and 9 show the same figure,
namely a cosine wave from to 2*PI that
is spun about to create a three-dimensional
object.

The grid projection in Figure 9a still
does not have the hidden lines removed.
To take out the hidden lines in this figure
would take far too many calculations and
too much time. So instead of removing
the hidden lines, I tilted the plane from
the original 50 degrees in Figure 9a to 63
degrees in Figure 9b. VT in line 30 repre-
sents the angle of tilt of the plane. This
way there are no hidden lines and the
three dimensions are still retained.

Figure 9c is the same cosine wave used
in Figures 9a and 9b, but the wave is not
stopped at 2*PI. Instead it is continued to
the corners of the grid, making for a most
impressive design.

The program in Listing 9 will plot Figure
9b as is. To plot Figure 9c, delete the rest
of lines 70 and 160 after the first statement.
The figures as shown were plotted with a
step size of five, but a step size of ten will
still allow reasonable resolution while taking
only one quarter of the amount of time.

I hope I have been able to pass on
some valuable insights into the techniques
used to draw various graphic patterns and
three-dimensional figures. Simply polish
up on your trigonometry, use your ingen-
uity, and experiment a lot. Impressive
graphics are difficult to make, but are
definitely not beyond your reach. US

Listings 1-9 on following pages.

Figure 9b.

Figure 9c.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Listing la.

20 FORX1=0 TO 100 STEP 10
Y1=100-X1

X=0 : Y=Y1 :A*=' MOVE "tGOSUBl 00
X = X 1 : Y = : A*= ■ DRAW •♦.gosubi 00

30
40

60 NEXTX1
70 END

Listing lb.

20 FOR C=1T04

30 FOR X2=0 TO 100 STEP 10

40 Y=100-X2:X1=X2

50 IFC=2THENY=-Y

60 IFC=3THENY=~Y:X1=-X2

70 IFC=4THENX1=-X2

B0 X=0:A*="hOUE':GOSUB1000

90 x=xi:y=o:a*='draw tGOSUBlOOO

100 NEXT X2
110 NEXTC
120 END

Listing lc.

20 FOR n=itos:read X.Y
30 cx=x:cy=y:gosub7o

40 NEXTN
50 END

60 DATA 0.0,-50»-50»50,-50r-50i50.50

70 FOR C=1T04

80 FOR X2=0 TO 50 STEP 5

90 Y=50-X2tXl=X2

100 IFC=2THENY=-Y

110 IFC=3THENY=-YtXl=-X2

120 ifc=4thenx1=-x2

130 as="move":x=cx:y=cy+y:gosue:iooo

140 A*="DRAW* :X=CX+X1 t Y=CY tGOSUBl 000

150 NEXTX2

160 NEXTC : RETURN

Listing 2.

5 INPUT-NUMBER OF ' LEAVES •=• ;p:p=P/2

10 INPUT'SLOWLY TWISTING ( Y/N) • ;b*:B*=LEFT*(B«, 1 )

20 PI*3.1415:P2=2*PI

30 S=P2/180:N1=5:N2=4

40 FOR D=l TO 10

50 M 1=N1 *D : M2=N2»D : IFB»= ■ Y ■ THENAA=D*PI/30

60 for an=0 to p2 step s:a=an+aa
70 sn=abs(sin(an*p) ) :ra=snkm1+m2
bo x=cos<a>*ra:y=sin(a>*ra

90 IF AN=0 THEN A*= "MOVE ■ tGOSUBl 000 : X1=X : Y1=Y :GOT0120

ioo x=int<x>:y=int<y>
no a«='draw:gosubiooo

120 NEXT AN

130 A*='DRAW' :GOSUB1000

140 NEXT D

150 END

Listing 3.

10 PI=3.1415926:P2=PI*2

20 S=PI/20

30 GOSUB160

40 FORAN=0TOPI STEP S

50 FOR N=1T05

60 X=X<N)*COS(AN) :Y=Y(N)

70 IFN=1 THEN A*= "MOVE • : GOTO90

80 A*=*DRAW

90 IF Fl=l THEN XX=X : X=Y : Y=XX

100 X=INT(X):y=INT(Y> tGOSUBlOOO

110 NEXTN

120 NEXT AN

130 IFF1=1THEN150

140 Fl=i:GOTO40

150 END

160 forn=itos:readx<n> , Y(N> :nextn:return

170 DATA 0.100»25.25»100»0»25.-25»0f-100

February 1984 c Creative Computing

155

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CI 520 Color Printer/Plotter. $169 00
C1S25 Dot Matrix/Parallel. . $219.00
C1526 Dot Malm Serial $279 00
C1 702 Color Monitor $249.00

C1311 Joystick $4 99

C1312 Paddles $i t gg

C1600 VIC Modem $89 00

CI 650 Auto Modem $89 00

Logo 64 $49.00

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Codewnter 64 $75.00

Ouick Brown Fox . $49.00

Word Pro 64 Plus $59. OO

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1030 Direct Connect Modem . CALL
1050 Disk Orive $379 00

CX30 Paddle $1200

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CX77 Touch Tablet $64.00

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4003 Assorted Education. $47 OO
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Apple Lower Case Generator ...$19.00

1200XL
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yjai

Plotter Tutorial, continued...

Listing 4.

10 PI=3.1415926:P2=PI*2

20 S=5«PI/180:RA=75

30 FOR B=0 TO PI STEP S

40 FOR A=0 TO PI STEP S

50 Y=SIN<A)*RA*COS(B) : X=GOS< A> *RA

60 IF A-0 THEN A*=" MOVE ■ : GOTO80

70 A«="DRAW'

bo x=int(x>:y=int<y>

90 GOSUB10 00

100 NEXT A

110 NEXT B

120 FOR B=0 TO PI STEP S

130 FOR A-=0 TO PI STEP S

iio y=cos<a>*ra:x=sin<a>*ra*cos<B)

150 IFA=OTHENA*="MOVE':GOT0170

160 A*="DRAW

170 X=INT(X) tY=INT(Y)

180 GOSUB1000

190 nexta:nextb

200 END

Listing 5.

10
12
M

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

170

180

190

200

210

220

230

240

250

260

270

280

290

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

370

380

390

400

410

420

430

158

!ST=ST+1

•YJGOTO220

DIM X(70)tY<70>.EX(4.50)tEY(4»50)

INPUT "NUMBER OF STEPS' i STtST=S T/2

INPUT • ANGLE ■ ; A : GOSUB370

PI=3.1415:S=PI/ST:A=A*PI/180:A2=A:S2=2xST+l

FOR Z-0 TO 2*PI STEP StE=E+l

IF SW=1 THEN 60

IFZ>PITHENA— AtSM-1

gn=o:a*='move' :x=o:y=o:gosubiooo

FORN=lTOC:iFGN=l THEN 220

IFN <47 THEN 100

IF Z>0 AND Z<PI THEN GN=1 :EX( 4 »E ) =X : EY < 4 , E )

IF N>41 THEN 140

IFSIN<Z>=0THEN140

Zl-SIN<Z>*X<N>:Z2-C08<Z>*X<N>tZ2— BQR<80C2-Z2C2>:01«Z1-Z2

Yl=Y(N):Y2-20:iF ATN<<Y2-Y1>/DI>>A2 THEN N=4i:Fl=i:GOTO220

y=y<n>:zi=x<n)*sin<z>*cos<a>:ifzi=otmen zi=.oooi
z1=abs(z1 ) :x=x<n>*c:os(z) :d=sqr<z1c2+yc2>
an:=atn(y/zi>+ajy=sin<an>xd:x=inkx>:y=int(Y)

IFFl <>0 THEN A*= "MOVE " tGOSUBl 000 : F1=0 :GOT0190

A*= " OR AW ■ : GOSUB 1

IFN=46 THEN EX< 3,E >=X tEY ( 3 t E ) =Y

EX<lrE)=X:EY<l»E)=Y

EX<2tE)=X{EY(2rE)=Y

THEN EX(4,E)=X:EY<4,E)=Y

EY(4f 1)

IFN=39 THEN
IFN=42 THEN

nextn: if gn=
nextz:s2=e:e

e+i:ex(4»e>=ex(4,i ) :ey(4,e)
a*=-move" :x=ex<i.i>:y=ey<i»i> sgosubiooo
forn=i to st:x==ex :y=ey<i,n>

A*="DRAW" tGOSUBlOOO tNEXTN

X=EX ( 2 . S2 ) : Y=E Y < 2 . S2 ) : A*= ' MOVE ■ '. GOSUB 10

FORN-1 TO S2:X=EX(2rN) :Y=EY(2,N)

A« = ' DRAW " S GOSUB 1 : NEXTN

A*='MOVE" :X=EX<3»S2> :Y=EY<3»S2> tGOSUBlOOO

FORN=l TO S2JX-EXO.N) !Y=EY(3rN)

a«=*draw :gosubiooo:nextn

a* - " move " : x=ex <4»st):y = ey(4,st): gobi ib 1

forn=st to e:x=ex(4.n) :y=ey<4.n)

a*= * draw " ! c08i ib 1 : nextn

END

oo:forx---4 to 80 step ?:c=c:+i:x<C)=x:y<( )

NEXTX

x=8o:fory=i6 to 20 step 2:x<c>»x:y<o«y:oc+i:nexty

Y-20JFORX=82 TO 110 STEP 1 : X <C )=X i Y (C ) = Y : C-C+l t NEXTX

x=ho:fory=2o to -20 step -2:x<c>-x:y<c>»y:c*c+i:nexty

OC-1

RETURN

=X/8+4

February 1 984 L Creative Computing

TTieENDo/DINKETY-
DINK-DINK.

JL JLnnouncing
the first computer
music program that
actually sounds like

music.

LET'S FACE IT. Up rill now, music
programs for your home computer
have all sounded, well, pretty lame.
There were the ones that resembled
little electronic music boxes, remem-
ber? And then there were those that
sounded like so many burps.

Enter Music Construction Set."* It's
the first music program that really
makes use of the power of that ma-
chine you've got. If you're a serious
student, this means you'll be able to
work with an intricacy and range of
sound quality you've never heard be-
fore on a computer. And if you know
nothing about music, you'll find some-
thing even more important. Namely,
that this thing is simple enough to
be a lot of fun.

Take a gcxxl kxik at this screen
because it, you, and a joystick are the
whole story here.

That's you at the right end of the
staff of notes — the little hand. Move
the joystick, and you move the hand.
Use it to carry notes up to the staff.
Lay in rests, signatures, clefs, then point

to the little piano in the lower right
and listen, because you'll hear the
whole thing played back.

Move those little scales in the mid-
dle up and down to vary the music s
speed, sound quality, and volume. Use

the scissors to cut out whole measures,
then use the glue pot to paste them
in somewhere else. Got a printer.'
Great. Print the score out and show it
off to your friends.

But what if you're not up to writing
your own stuff yet? No problem.
There are twelve pieces of music al-
ready in here, from rock n roll to
baroque. They're fun to listen to, and
even more fun to change. (Apologies
to Mozart.)

The point is, the possibilities are
endless. But if you're still skeptical.
visit your nearest Electronic Arts dealer
and do the one thing guaranteed to
send you home with a Music Con-
struction Set in tow.

Boot one up. Point to the piano.
And listen.

ELECTRONIC ARTS

ONSTHUCnON SF1 i*i*>» -ivjiLblelor Apple II. II+.IIe.andComrrMfcliifeMi-iiniputers The Apple vanfon. wfch a Mo,lonKhiwu , " , pbY* ihordv ot up I.' Mx no|M«ach IK
of up ro three notr% e.*h Apple is J rryiMCTrd trademark of Apple Computer Commodore n I registered trademark of Commodore BuMne*-. Machine*. Irk- Ftvr more information about Eh ujU M k Ai i
Ijmpu. Drive Sjn Mateo. CA 94-40 1 or ej| I4ISI S71-717I

CIRCLE 212 ON READER SERVICE CARD

159

Plotter Tutorial, continued...

Listing 6.

10 DIM X(50)fY(50)»EX(100)»EY(100)fIX(100)fIY<100)

11 pi = 3.1415:input"angi..e" ;a3
20 gosub380 58-pi/20 : a3-a3*pi/180 : a=a3
30 for z=0to 2*pi step s5e=e+1
10 if sw=1 then 60
50 ifz>pi then a=-a:sw=1
6 a«- "move* :x=o:y=o:gosijp.iooo

70 Fl = 0:iF 7:91/7. AND Z<=PI*1.5 THEN Fl = l

80 F0RN-1T0C

90 IFN=9 THEN IX(E ) = X : IY <E ) =Y

100 IF N>15 AND GN=1 THEN GOTO310

110 IFAE:S<COS<Z> >>.377 THEN 160

120 IF Z<PI THEN Y2=Y1 : Y1==Y ( N ) 5 Z1 = X < N ) : Z2 = X < N-l ) : GOT0230

130 Y2=Y<N) :Y1-Y(N-D:Z1— X(N-l) tZ2»-X<N>:iFZl>Z2 THEN260

140 NA = ATN<<Y1-Y2>/<Z2 -Zl) >:IFNA<A3 THEN DA=A3*2 :GOTO240

150 GOTO260

160 Al=Z:iF Fl=l THEN A2=A1+ . 031 GOT0180

170 A2=Al-.03

180 Y1 = Y(N) :X1 = X<N)*GC)S<A:L) :Z1 = X(N)*SIN(A1 )

190 Z2=XlxTAN(A2> tXN-Xl/COS< A2>

20 IF XN>114.28 THEN 260

210 IFXN<=80THEN Y2-XN/8+4 IGOTO230

220 DI = XN--94.28:Y2=SQR<40 0-DI*DI>

230 DA=ATN(<Y2~Y1>/<Z1-Z2) >

240 IF DA>A3 THEN GN=1 : EX ( E ) =X t EY ( E )=Y tGGl 0260

250 IF GN=1 THEN GN=2 ELSE GN-0

260 Y=Y(N) :Z1=X<N>*S1N<Z>*C0S(A) :IFZ1-0THENZ1= . 0001

27 Z1=ABS<Z1> tX>X<N>xC08(Z) :D«SQR(Z1C2+YC2)

280 AN=ATN < Y/Zl > +A : Y=SIN ( AN > *D : X =TNT ( X > : Y = INT ( Y )

290 IFGNO0 AND N>5 1 1 1! N A*» " MOVE • tGOSUBl 000 SGOTO310

30 A4= "DRAW :GOSUEil 000

310 nextn:gn=o:nextz

32 E=E+ltIX<E>=IX< 1 ) :IY(E)=IY( 1 > :EX< E >=EX < 1 > JEY<E)-EY<1 )
330 X=EX<1 ) :Y=EY(1 ) tAt-'MOVE* :GO8UB1000

340 forn-2TOe:x=ex<N) :y=ey(N) :a*="draw scosubiooo :nextn

350 A*="MoyE' :x=ix<i ) :y=iy<d :gosubiooo

360 forn = ? to e:x=ix<n> :y=iy<n) :a*-"dra>t :gosuem ooo :nextn

370 END

380 FORX==10TO80STEP1

390 C = C + lJX<C)==X:Y(G)=X/8+4

400 NEXTX:A1=2.3661952:A2=-A1:S=-. 1745328

410 CX=94.28:C=C-1

42 F0RA<=A1 TO A2 STEPS

430 C=C+1 :x<c>=cos<a>x2o+cx:y<c>=sin<a>*20
440 nexta:oc-i

450 RETURN

Listing 7.

10 AN=30*3. 1415/180: AC =26*3. 1415/180
Fl = i:ST==20

FORZG=-10 TO 100 STEP ST:Z
EORXG=-10() TO 100 STEP STtX-XG
IF 7G<-60 THEN 100
IF ZG>6 THEN 100
RA=SGR(60E2-ZGC2)
IF XG<-RA OR XORA THEN 100
Y = SQR ( RAC 2-XCC 2 ) ! COTOl 1
Y=0

go8ub120 :goto350

if z=0 then z-.001
Z2=-tan(an)xxg:dz«z2-zg:ifdz o then 220

Ll-DZXSIN(AN) :Xl«XG+COS(AN)*Ll : Z1=Z2-SIN( AN) *l ]

IF XK-60 OR X1>60 THEN Yl = 0:GOTO180

RA-SQR < 60t: 2-X1C 2 ) : IFZ1C2>RAC 2 THEN Y 1 ■ :GOTO180

Y1-SQRCRAC2-Z1C2)

L»8QR(DZC2-L1C2> :DY=Y1-Y :OA=ATN<DY/L )

IF DA>AC THEN F2MtGOTO290

IF F2=l THEN F2=2 :GOTO220

F2=0

IF ZG<0 THEN A=AN:GOTO240

A=-AN

160

February 1984 Creative Computing

Listing 7. (continued)
24 I -SQR (ZC2+YC2) J Z=AE:S ( Z )
Al==ATN<Y/7> 1A2-A1+A
CNT<SIN<A2)XL>

i sqr<zc2+xc2) :ai-=atn<x/z> :az=ai.+a

X2=INT(SIN(A2)*L)

IF F2O0 THEN A*»"HOWE" :GOTO330

A*="DRAW"

IF Fl=2 ANt DO THEN At=*MOVE'

IF Fl^=l ANDXGa-100 THEN A*="MOW

xx-x : yy=y : x==x2 : y= yz : gosubi o o o : x=xx { y

250
260
270
280
290
300
310
320
330
340
350
SAO
370
380

40
410
420
430
440
450
4<S0
470
480
490
50

NEXT XC
NEXT 7C

FOR XG=-1 00 TO LOI

FOR ZG--100 TO 100 81

IF XGO60 THEN 450

IF XG>60 THEN

RA*SQR<60C2-XGI

TF ZC<-RA OR ZG>RA THEN 450

st:x
st:;

Y=SQR(RAC

Y =

REM DRAW POIN1

UB 120
NEXT

XG
END

:COT04AO

GIVEN XGr/G, AND Y

Listing S.

1 PI =3 . I ", I 592c : E'2==E\I*2 : '

20 si o:ti=60:xi=

3 FORAN=0 TO P2 STEPS

40 IFAN<»PI THEN A1=TI*PI/180 tGOTI

50 A1=-T1*PI/180

60 FOR N=d TO P2 STEf

70 Y=C0S(N)*42:X '*N*Xr

80 IFSIN(AN)»1 THEN Z=M*Xl:GOTO100

90 Z=TAN<AN)*X

100 Z-ABS(Z) tIFZ=»0 001

110 1 -8QR ( 7f 2+YC 7 ) : A=ATN ( Y/Z ) +A1

120 Y=lxSIN<A>

130 IFN:=0 THEN A*='h> ITO1S0

140 A*- "DRAW

150 x=int<x>:y=int(Y):gosubi ooo

160 NFXTN
170 NEXTAN
180 END

CHEMISTRY IS THE COMPLEX SUBJECT
MANY STUDENTS FAIL FOR A SIMPLE REASON.

Many of the 60.000 students who fail Introductory Chemistry
each year fail for one simple reason: they never really get a firm
grasp on balancing equations (or sioich/omefry) . The first time
they get stuck, and no one's there to get them out of trouble, they
just skip over the problem — which only reinforces the confusion.
And because an understanding of stoichiometry is crucial to all
other concepts in chemistry, as the course progresses they fall fur-
ther and further behind

W1LEVS JUST TAKEN THAT SIMPLE REASON AWAY.

THE CHEMISTRY TUTOR:
Stoichiometry & Balancing Equations

Frank P. Rinohart
College of the Virgin Islands, St. Thom.ix

Your student needs individualized help in order to stay on top of
the material. Wiley's CHEMISTRY TUTOR gives that one-to one
attention so hard to come by in large lecture classes. It's an inter
active tutorial program that teaches students how to balance
equations the same way a qualified instructor does — in careful,
step-by-step detail.

NO MORE CONFUSION, EVER.

The secret lies in THE CHEMISTRY TUTOR'S amazing flexibility
It's programmed to give specific responses to any answer students
may enter— no matter how close or off base they may be. If the
answer punched is incorrect. CHEMISTRY TUTOR instantly rec-
ognizes where the confusion lies and asks questions designed
to lead students back on track By the time they reach the right
answer, they also understand where they went wrong in the
first place.

ELUCIDATING. NOT FRUSTRATING.

The equations on CHEMISTRY TUTOR run the gamut of appro-
priate problems, including full coverage of stoichiometric and lim
iting reagents calculation. Students choose the level of difficulty
they feel ready for. but may switch to another level at any time.
CHEMISTRY TUTOR is self pacing instruction, with clear expla-
nations whenever, and for however long, they need it. So there
never has to be an unmanageable equation: only a challenging
one.

THE CHEMISTRY TUTOR runs on the Apple' 11+ llewithone
disk drive.

October 1983 ISBN 47 1 8( )274 3 $25 .00

Coming soon: THE CHEMISTRY TUTOR: Oxidation Reduc
tion Reactions

ZVILEY

EDUCATIONAL
SOFTWARE

JOHN WILEY & SONS, Inc.

605 Third Avenue. New York. N.Y. 10158

For further information, or to order, write to Bill Rosen,
Dept. 4-1521

App/. lend trademark of Apple Computer, Ine 4-1521

February 1984 Creative Computing

CIRCLE 182 ON READER SERVICE CARD

161

READERS DIGES'
INTRODUCES SOFTW^Rl
GOOD ENOUGH TO GO OUT AN;

BUY A COMPUTER FOl

rirst, we chose specific educational objectives Then wp rtv»ar»>H th^^r. * £
of a^ted ticklers to satisfy the most dJSSS^^S^SS^^S^SS
energetic graphics, in each case with a flexible format aesignea coiortul,

^rf I^l a ? u f S( i ftware is either t0 ° heavy-handed for much repetition

or too frivofous to be taken seriously, Reader's Digest Software has broSSh

ground by striking an easy balance. Between a good teaming expSSeSd

Fun and games for fun and brains. Your children, your teenagers your
computer will approve. «^x»Kcia, your

See your dealer for Reader's Digest Software or call Customer Service at 800/431-8800. (In NY, AK. HI: 914/241-5727.)

READER s DIGES1 SOFTWARE IS A TRADEMARK Of THE READ, R s DK2B1 ASS. K IATION. INC.

CIRCLE 157 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Plotter Tutorial, continued...

30 HT-30»PI/180:UT-63*PI/180tCl— 120.C2-XZO

4 FOR ZG-C1 TO C2 STEPS

50 FOR XG=C1 TO C2 STEP S

To L=SQR(ZC2 + XC2):iFL>100THENY=0:GOTO90

80 l-l/mf:y-cos<l>*25

90 COSUB230

100 NEXTXG

110 NEXTZG

120 Fl-2

130 FOR XG=C1 TO C2 STEPS

140 FOR ZC-C1 TO C2 STEP S

"J f=SOR(7C2 + XC2):iFL>100 THEN Y-OtCOTOlBO
170 |_«L/HF:Y-C0S<L>*23

180 GOSUB230
190 NEXT ZG
200 NEXT XG

2 ? S Rf5 TILT & PLOT POINTS GIVEN X,Y, AND Z

230 IFZCVOTHEN U-VTtH— HT:COTO250

250 L^QR*(ZC2lYC2):Z=AeS<Z>:iFZ=0THENZ=.n01

iiii A=ATN< Y/Z)+V J Y=SIN< A)*L

77* ElmiSz+xcaMiFX-o then a«pi/2:goto290

280 A-ATN<Z/X>tIFA<0THENA«A+PI

S. S^irSS^l THEN A...HO VE -tCOTO330
310 IFF1-2ANDZG-C1 THEN A*-'HOVE- JGOTO330

32 A*=*DRAW"

330 X=INT ( X ) : Y-INT ( Y > i GOSUB I

34 RETURN

Modification for Apple II.

15 HGR2:HCOLOR=7:XG=140:YC=96

16 xm= :ym=

10 00 XP=X*XM+XC:YP=192-<Y*YM+YC)

1010 TFA*="r10VE" THEN XO=XP'.YO=YP '.RETURN

1020 HPLOT XO.YO TO XP.YP

1030 xo=xp:yo=yp: return

Modification for Color Computer with CGP-115.
15 PRINT*-2»CHR*<18):PRINT*-2,'«240,
1000 IFA*=" HOVE 'THEN PRINT*-2."M ,\f
1010 PRINT#-2. 'D- SX; " , ■ i YtRETURN

Modification for TRS-80 Mod 1 1 III with CGP-115.

15 lPRINTCHR*(18):L.PRINT'M240,-100":LPRINT'I"

1000 ifa*="move'thenlprint-m"5x;'»"sy:return

1010 LPRINVD'IXI'iMYtRETURN

Modification for TRS-80 Mod II III on screen.
15 CLStXC=64:YC=24

ia xm= :ym=

1000 XP=X*XM+XC:YP=47~<Y*YM+YC>

1010 IF A*= * MOVE " THENXO=XP J YO=YP t RETURN

loio IFXO-XP AND YO-YP THEN BET<XO.YO> JRETURN

1030 A5=A°S(XP-X0) :E5=AE:S(YP-Y0) :IFA5>B5THEN1040 ELSE1080

1040 IFXP>XO THEN CS-XOtDS-XPtES-YOtFS-YPtCOTOlOAO

1050 C5-XPtD5«X0tE5»YP:FS-Y0

1060 G5-05-C5tH5-<F5-E5>/CStF0RU5-CS TO Du

1070 SET(U5,ES):E5=E5+H5:NEXT:GOTO1120

1080 ifyp>yothenc:5=yo:d5-yp:e5=xo:f5=xp:gotoiioo
1090 cs-yp : d5-yo i e3-xp : f5-x0

1100 G5=D5-C5:H5=(F5-E5)/Gb .„„,,,

1110 F0RU5-C5T0D5J BET <E3»U5> IE5-E5+H5* NEXT

1120 xo=xp:yo=yp:return

164

February 1984 e Creative Computing

Function 16.

Christopher J. Shaw

Mhe idea behind Spectrum, the pro-
gram presented in this article, is quite
simple:

Compute the value of a numeric func-
tion of two variables, x and y. Use the
values of x and y to determine a spot on
the screen. Use the function value to des-
ignate a color. Display the color at the
proper spot. Do this for each spot on the
screen.

Spectrum is written in Microsoft Ba-
sic and incorporates this algorithm. It
also allows you to select any of 25 func-
tions to plot, and you can easily modify
it to incorporate your own functions.

Spectrum also allows you to select the
color palette to be used — up to the 16-
color maximum permitted by the display
hardware.

I wrote Spectrum for the Commodore
64 computer, and I have modified it to
run on the Vic 20 and on the IBM PC.
The Commodore 64 version is given in

Christopher J. Shaw, J17 24th St.. Hermosa Beach, CA
90254.

February 1984 e Creative Computing

The Spectrum Palette.

165

Spectrum, continued

Function 3.

Function 4.

■HH

Function 6.

Listing 1 . The changes needed for other
machines are shown in Listings 2 and 3.
(Spectrum won't quite fit into an un-
expanded Vic 20, unless you leave out all
the REMarks and unnecessary spaces.
•And even then you may have to delete
one or two of the functions to give it
enough room to run.)

Spectrum uses low-resolution color
graphics. Each spot on the screen is a
character position, and the color is gen-
erated by POKEing a reversed blank with
the computed color as background.

High-resolution plots are also pos-
sible, of course, but the color palette is
more limited (four vs. sixteen colors), so
the patterns, though more detailed, are
less colorful. It also takes 32 times as
long to plot the color spectrum of a
function in hi-res, and Spectrum is slow
enough as it is, particularly for difficult
functions.

Spectrum produces some fascinating

color patterns, and it is fun — and curi-
ously soothing — to watch them build up
on the screen, eventually overwriting the
function definition displayed at the top.
But the main fascination of the program,
I think, lies in making minor modifica-
tions to the functions being plotted, and
seeing how these modifications affect the
pattern displayed. To get an apprecia-

Spectrum produces

some fascinating color

patterns, and it is

fun — and curiously

soothing — to watch

them build up

on the screen.

Function 7.

tion for this, it is necessary to under-
stand how Spectrum converts a function
value to a color number.

Converting A Function Value

To do this, Spectrum first takes the
integer part of the function value (using
built-in Basic int function). Then it di-
vides this integer by the number of col-
ors in the current palette and takes the
remainder of this division. This remain-
der, added to the number of the first
color in the palette, is the color number
for the spot corresponding the values of
x and y used in evaluating the function.
If we consider the function value as a
binary number, with a binary point
somewhere within it, and we assume a
16-color palette, the color number is
determined by the four bits, just before
the binary point, shown capitalized in
the example below.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXX.xxxxxxxxxxxxx

166

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Function 17.

By redefining the function to include a
power-of-two multiplier or divisor, we
can, in effect, shift the four color-
determining bits either left (by division)
or right (by multiplication). This usually
has a significant impact on the color
pattern.

The most significant bits of the func-
tion value are often very regular (zero is
typical), and the patterns they produce
can be very broad — and dull, sometimes
invisible. On the other hand, the least
significant bits of the function value are
typically fairly random — any patterns
are hard to see within the relatively
small window of the display screen— so
the resulting patterns appear random
and, though very colorful, also dull.

The challenge is to experiment with
each function until you find a factor —
and it doesn't need to be a power of
two — that produces a pattern that is
neither too regular nor too random.

February 1984 e Creative Computing

Another way to change a pattern is to
shift it left, right, up, or down. You can
do this by adding a term to x or to y
everywhere it appears in the function
definition. You can also change the scal-
ing of the pattern in the x or y direction
by multiplying or dividing x or y every-
place it appears in the function defi-
nition by your chosen scaling factor.

Pattern rotation is possible by apply-

Once you have defined

a function that

generates a pattern

you like, you can

experiment with the

colors.

Function 20.

ing the appropriate mathematical trans-
formations to the function, but that may
be more work than it is worth.

Once you have defined a function that
generates a pattern you like, you can
experiment with the colors. Spectrum
allows you to choose a color palette by
specifying the number of colors and the
initial color.

After Spectrum displays its initial
screen of instructions, you may press
return to proceed to the function
prompt or space to go to the palette
selection menu. A number in the range
3-27 is the proper response to the func-
tion prompt, but you may press q to quit
the program or enter a number outside
the range (e.g., 0) to return to the initial
instruction screen and then the color
palette menu. After Spectrum finishes
plotting a function, you may press any
key to be prompted for another function
number.

167

Spectrum, continued

Function 26.

The version of Spectrum given in List-
ing 1 contains 25 functions in statements
3 through 27. (I have numbered the
functions 3 to 27, instead of 1 to 25, to
emphasize this.) If you get involved in
using the program, you may find that
this is not enough. You can easily mod-
ify it to hold more functions, but it is
even easier to make a separate copy of
the program for each set of 25 functions
you find interesting.

Defining A New Function

A new function is defined by replacing
any statement in the range 3 to 27 to
compute the new function value. Be sure
to change the corresponding print state-
ment in the 403 to 427 range to display
the new function.

The main thing to look out for in de-
fining your own functions is to avoid di-
vision by zero (add a small, non-zero
term to the divisor) and illegal quantities

168

caused by out of range function argu-
ments. Of course, the Basic interpreter
will tell you about these errors, but
sometimes not until you get to the mid-
dle of the screen where x and y are both
zero.

Some of the functions included in the
program are particularly interesting, as
you can see from the illustrations
accompanying this article.

Function 3, F = RND(0), generates a
completely random pattern.

Function 4, F=TIME, shows a cer-

I hope you enjoy

investigating the

color spectrum of simple

mathematical functions.

Function 27.

tain regularity, indicating that the time
needed to execute the major display loop
is fairly constant.

Function 16 displays an American
flag (almost), the mathematical defi-
nition of which relies on the fact that
Microsoft Basic treats logical expres-
sions, such as (A = B), as zero when they

are false.

Function 8 was displayed on the cover
of the May 1982 issue of a magazine
called Computer Graphics and Applica-
tions. A brief article about that cover, by
E.P. Miles, Jr. of Florida State Univer-
sity, inspired the development of my
program. Spectrum.

If you type the program into your
computer, I hope you enjoy investigating
the color spectrum of simple mathemat-
ical functions as much as I have. And if
you find any really neat patterns, be sure
to let me know about them. ■

Listings on pp. 170-172

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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Spectrum, continued..

Listing 1. Spectrum for the Commodore 64.

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1 C0T0 100

2 0Nn-2C0T03, 4,5, 6,7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, M, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27

3 f» RND(0)*v6: RETURN

4 f» time: RETURN

5 •■ SIN(8«x >»EXP< y) : RETURN

6 f- <EXP<x)tEXP< -x) >/2«L0G( y-»S8R< y-»2tl ) ) : RETURN

7 f- 3«<ATN(x>+ATN<y> > : RETURN

8 f» 3<(x*3-y*y)tSIN< <x»y I /20> / (xextyey*. 3) : RETURN

9 f- (x'>'2*y'>'3)/30: RETURN

10 f- ( ix*2*y'V2>>181»ATN(x/2*y/2>: RETURN

11 f- (SIN(x)-SIN(yl )^3i RETURN

12 «» SIN(x-yl*SOR<ABS(x»yll: RETURN

13 f« <SIN<x/3»C0S(y) > >»7: RETURN

14 *■ L0C( UABS(xl/( WABSly) >>»50: RETURN

15 f- SQR<x*2ty*2> t RETURN

16 f- < (x<0)AND(y<l I lel-SI+l ( < x>»0 )0R< y>- 1 ) IANDI INTI (y-l )/2)AN01 >>♦!: RETURN

17 «■ x-y: RETURN

18 f« (x*3-y*5)/100: RETURN

19 f« 9*<SIN(x)+COS<y> l>2: RETURN

20 «■ EXPISORt ( <x*9>/3>*2/< t y/5 C*2*. 031 ) I : RETURN

21 f- SQR< <3«x>*2/<. 33333* y^) I: RETURN

22 «■ ATN(xl*ATN(y>: RETURN

23 f« v6»ATN(EXP(x/9>)-ATN<EXP<y> >»y: RETURN

24 f» (x"»2*3»x»y+y«-2-3>/49:RETURN

25 f« SQR(ABS(x)«l >*S0R<ABS(y)+7>: RETURN

26 f- 100*v6/EXP< l/(l*ABS<x)»ABS(y> I >/33: RETURN

27 f- x*y/v6: RETURN

100 COSUB 3000i REM sat the display parameters

110 COSUB 2000: COSUB1000: REM initialization k instructions

120 COSUB 300: COSUB 400: REM select fc print function

130 FOR j-v3-l TO STEP -li FOR i-0 TO v2-l: REM plot froei bottom up

140 x-l-v4i y-j-vSi COSUB 2

150 h-INT<f )-v6*INT< INTIf l/v6)+v7

160 b-j»v2*ii POKE vltb.h

170 POKE vOtb, 160

180 NEXT i: NEXT j

190 CET k»: IF *••"" THEN 190

200 IF k»--q- THEN PRINT" (CLEAR) " i END

210 COTO 120

299 REM input the function number; print the instructions if out-of -range

300 PRINT" (CLEAR)": INPUT"funct ion" in: IF n>2 AND n<28 THEN RETURN
310 COSUBlOOOi COTO 300

399 REM print the function to ba plotted

400 ONn-2COT0403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 41 1, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418

401 ONn- 18GOT0419, 420, 421 , 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427

403 PRINT-f» rnd(0)*v6 "iRETURN

404 PRINT"f- time -.-RETURN

405 PRINT"f» sin(8tx)texp( y) ":RETURN

406 PRINT"f» (explxltexpl -x> 1/2. log! y»sqr< y«-2»l ) ) ": RETURN

407 PRINT"f- 3*latn(xl»atn(y) ) " iRETURN

408 PRINT"f-3»(x'>'3-y^2)»s>n((x+y)/20)/(x , '2*y' , '2+.3)-:RETURN

409 PRINT" f- <x*2*y*3>/30 ":RETURN

410 PRINT"f» (lx*2*y*2>>18>»atn<x/2*y/2I": RETURN

411 PRINT-f- (sin(x)-sin(y) )^3 : RETURN

412 PRINT-f- sin(x-y).sqr(ab»(x»y) ) " : RETURN

413 PRINT"f« (sinlx/S+coslyl > >*7 "iRETURN

414 PRINT-f« log! Uabilx >/ ( l.ibil y) ) )«50": RETURN

415 PRINT-f « ■qr(x*2*<y*2> 'iRETURN

416 PRINT" ( <x<0)and(y<l ) ) • ( -5) ♦ ( ( <x>»0 lor < y>- 1 I land! intl (y-l 1/2 land 1 I 1*1"
: RETURN

417 PRINT-f- x-y ~:RETURN

418 PRINT-f « <x*3-y*5l/100 :RETURN

419 PRINT"f« 9i(sinlxl»cofly)l^2 "iRETURN

420 PRINT-f- explsqrl ( <x+91/3>*2/< < y/5>*2*. 03) I I ": RETURN

421 PRINT-f- sqr (x'»2/(. 33333+ y*2) I "iRETURN

422 PRINT"f« atn(x)eatnly) ": RETURN

423 PRINT-f- v6*atn(exp(x/9> )-atn(exp(yl Ity": RETURN

424 PRINT-f- <x'«'2+3tx»y*y'>'2-3>/49 ":RETURN

425 PRINT"f« sqr(abs(xl4l)asqr(abs(y)47)-i RETURN

426 PRINT-f» 100«v6/exp( l/< 1 *abs< x I tabs ( y ) I 1/33": RETURN

427 PRINT"f- x»y/v6 ":RETURN

999 REM print the instructions

1000 PRINT" (CLEAR)chr is shaw's"
1010 PRINT"color spectrum plotter"
1020 PRINT

1030 PRINT'plot the color -

1040 PRINT' spectrum of any of 25"

1050 PRINT" functions, numbered 3"

1060 PRINT'to 27, by entering the"

1070 PRINT'funct ion number in"

1080 PRINT' response to the"

1090 PRINT'funct ion prompt. "

1100 PRINT

1110 PRINT after a plot is done,"

1120 PRINT'press any key to be"

1130 PRINT'pronpted for another"

1140 PRINT"plot. "

1150 PRINT

1160 PRINT'press space' to"

1170 PRINT'change the color"

February 1984 l Creative Computing

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1180

1190

1240

1250

1259

1260

1270

1280

1290

1300

1310

1320

1330

1340

1350

1360

1999

2000

2010

2020

2030

2040

2050

2060

2070

2080

2090

2100

2110

2120

2130

2140

2150

2160

2170

2999

3000

3010

3020

RETURN

PRINT"pal«tt«» press-
PR INT" 'i-« turn' to continue.
CET k«: IF *••-" THENI240 — .
IF K«OCHR«<32> THEN PRINT" (CLEAR)
REM print th« color palctta

arr-WK P ..- «»»>.-.«' .<£«. »>-*•♦"> «-*■■■

PRINT -CCREEN>"i."<LEFT5>-c«(i);p«: NEXT .

PRINT: PRINT-is tha color palatt*

INPUT"<a's> oK <y/n)";k«

IF LEFT«<k«, l)-"y" THEN RETURN

INPUT'how many colors" ;v6 rmntlSO

IF v6<2 THEN PRINT"not enough colors : COT013ZO

INPUT"* o* first color"s»7 rOTO1320

IF (v6*v7)>!6 THEN PRINT'too ..any colors . G0T013Z0

COTO1260

REM raad th« color palatt*
DIM c«<15>: FOR i-0 TO 15: READ c«li)
DATA "(WHITE>bl»ek

DATA ' (WHITE. RVS)wh it* CRVSOFF)
DATA "(RED.RVS)r.d ^fSZlL -
DATA "(CYAN, RVS) cyan <R Y?°^' ,.
DATA (PURPLE, RVS)purp I* CRVSOFF)

CRVSOFF)
(RVSOFF) "
(RVSOFF) "
CRVSOFF) "
(RVSOFF) "
CRVSOFF)

DATA "(CREEN, RVS)gr**n
DATA "(BLUE.RVS)blu*
DATA " (YELLOW, RVS)y« I low
DATA "(ORANCE,RVS)orang*
DATA " (BROWN. RVS)brown

DATA " (PINK, RVS) pink

DATA "(DK.GRAY.RVS)dark gray(RVSOFF)

DATA "(CRAY. RVS) gr.y <RVS °^r' c , -

DATA "(LT. CREEN. RVS) It. or ««"<"Y?9£"

DATA "(LT.BLUE.RVS)lt. blu. <"VSOFF)

DATA "(LT.CRAY,RVS)lt. gray (RVSOFF)

S, t vT.,52§6? y v^4r:3:2=:°:4::2 / 2?-^?N?,^,2,: V6-16: V7.0

POKE 53280,0: POKE 53281.0
RETURN

Liming 2. Make these changes to Listing 1 to run Spectrum on the Vic 20.

1^5 .F-^EKTilB^AND^^^

:v 1-37888
3010 POKE 36B79.B
3020 RETURN

Listing 3. Make these changes to Listing I to run Spectrum on the IBM PC.

3 »-RND«v6: RETURN

4 f-VAL<RICHT«<tir.«».2>l: RETURN
160 b-2»< j«v2*i ): POKE b*l.h

170 POKE b,219

190 k«-ink*y«: IF K«-"" THEN 190

200 IF k»--q" THEN els: END RETURN

300 width 80: els: INPUT"f unct ion" in: IF n>2 AND n<28 THEN KtTUWM

403 PRINT"rnd«v6": RETURN „„..—,

404 PRINT"v»l <right»< tim**.2> ) ": RETURN
1000 width 40: els: PRINT"chris shaw's"
1240 k«-ink.y»: IF k«-"" THEN 1240
1250 IF K»OCHR«(32) THEN RETURN

1270 FOR i-0 TO 15: colOR 2: PRINT i|l p«-" * -

,280 co.0R V '. pR!N; V T;B^. T .t^n:;;5.CHR,«2,9M,. co.OR . - . .5- . > • . -0 OR :-8,

1285 PRINT c«<l>;: colOR 2: PRINT p»: NEXT :

2010 DATA " black

2020 DATA " blu*

2030 DATA " gr**n

2040 DATA " cysn

2050 DATA " r*d

2060 DATA ~ maganta

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fould you like some out-of-the-
ordinary computer art to decorate your
office, country club, or refrigerator
door? Say no moire! This article is for
you. Stack up a supply of paper and get
a new ribbon in your printer, I have
found that this pursuit is habit forming.
And besides providing some nice print-
outs, the programs presented may help
you in related endeavors of your own.

Moire (mwah-ray' ) patterns are those
sometimes surprising patterns that ap-
pear when two similar images (overlays)
are laid one over the other. You can see
moire patterns easily by looking through
two combs held together but slightly
askew, or by looking through the folds
of the sheer draperies on your windows.

Moire patterns are graphics, but even
with straight alphanumeric screens and
printers, some very good patterns can be
produced. More spectacular images can
be made on graphics terminals and dot
matrix graphics printers. This article

Mark Gardner. Box 3762. GCS. Glendalc. CA
91201.

174

Mark Gardner

leaves no one out. Figure 1 shows an
example of line printer and graphic
printer moire patterns.

I've done this work mostly in MBasic
under CP/M on a Toshiba T100. Some
of the patterns were produced with
Toshiba TBasic, with graphics com-
mands similar to those (circle, line,
pset, etc.) found in Basic on the IBM
PC. Some examples were made using a
Kaypro with a Vectrix VX384. I used a
variety of equipment and approaches to
generate the patterns presented here, so
you should be able to use parts of the
article immediately. For the rest, the
principles are clear, and you can easily
adapt the procedures to your own
system.

Everyone Does It

Almost everywhere you look these
days you see samples of computer
art — from simple string drawings to

sophisticated animated graphics in full
color. Most common are string
drawings. Also prevalent are pleasant
geometric patterns and simple drawings,
as on computer printed Christmas cal-
endars and wall-wide Happy New Year
printouts. Less common are examples of
random and ordered dithering and ran-
dom placement of identical patterns.

Of all these, moire patterns are per-
haps closest in spirit to the string
drawings, but are fundamentally dif-
ferent. In string drawings, the illusion of
curves is given by placing straight lines
tangential to the implied curves. In
moire patterns, the implied curves "ap-
pear"; they are related to the intersec-
tions of the lines or curves in the
overlays.

Who Was Moire?

With a name like that, it is easy to
guess that moire patterns must be named
after some famous French mathemati-
cian, right? Wrong! Moire is from the
French word for "watered" or "wetted"
and has long been used to describe tex-

February 1984 c Creative Computing

tiles, particularly silk, treated specially
to give the surface a water-wave look.
The original process may have been an
oriental invention, thousands of years
ago, but moire textiles are still popular
and available. Heavier moire textiles are
common as drapers material.

British physicist lord Rayleigh (ca.
1X74) seems to gel credit as the first to
suggest practical uses for the patterns (as
if the art possibilities were impractical).
In fact, moire patterns, carefully done,
can represent solutions to a wide number
of physical problems — the field
surrounding a magnetic dipole, for
example. If you have more interest in
this, check my best reference, G. Oster
and N. Nishijima, "Moire Patterns,"
Scientific American. 208(5 ):54-63, 1963.
I lial article gives excellent examples. I
have tried to reproduce some of the ef-
fects of that reference for this article.

What Arc Moire Patterns?

Moire patterns result when two or
more sets of curves or lines are placed
one over the other and viewed together.
In a sense, the moire pattern is an op-
tical illusion, since you can claim it
really doesn't exist, but you can see it.

The illusion comes from the eye's
perception of increased and decreased
boldness of pattern density produced by
intersections of the two overlays. I his is
similar to physical interference in
wavefronts and hysteresis (beating) be-
tween sounds: when two waves are in
phase they add for a large amplitude,
and when out of phase they subtract for
low amplitude. Moire patterns are a lit-
tle different; two overlays exactly in
phase match precisely, and no pattern
emerges. The moire comes when lines
are close, but not exactly lined up. The
moire patterns in textiles are authenti-
cally produced by folding a cloth, then
pressing it to impose the weaving pattern
against itself. Absolute alignment is
impossible, so the classical moire is
produced.

The overlays used to create moire pat-
terns are usually regular, repetitive, and
similar. The two are slightly different,
but not too different. The following are
options that create moire patterns:

• Identical overlays, but offset slightly
(good for concentric patterns — squares,
circles, ellipses)

• Identical overlays, but rotated
slightly (good for overlays composed of
straight lines)

• Overlays not identical, but with
similar contents (circles with ellipses,
squares with rectangles, hyperbolas with
parabolas).

• Overlays different only in scale
(cross hatching).

• Overlays similar, but where spacing
is controlled by different functions. This

February 1984 Creative Computing

■1. ,N..

—

.If. •»..

Rgure J- Examples of computer printed mob* patterns: (A, with character graphics
IB) with dot matrix graphics. '

is variable scale (interesting with straight
lines).

• Overlays similar, but where shape is
modified slightly by some function (a
family of ellipses overlaid on circles,
where each ellipse in the first overlay has
a slightly different aspect).

• Miscellaneous other pairings of
overlays, some no doubt yet undiscov-
ered. In my work, I accidentally pro-
duced a "non-existent" moire pattern.
More later.

Using Character Displays

As computer hobbyists, we have two
media in which to paint our moire pat-
terns: our display screens and our print-
ers. Either may be a "graphics" product,
i.e., using pixels rather than character
locations. This certainly makes for more
interesting patterns, but some good pat-
terns can be produced on ordinary
screens and printers, too. The examples
presented in this section were made un-
der MBasic and printed on a ProWriter
printer at 10 pitch.

Plotting with characters on a screen
gives a resolution of about 80 x 24. On a
character printer, that increases to
roughly 80 x 66. Screen character dis-
plays are usually fixed, but often a
printer can be changed easily to an elite
or condensed font and eight lines per
inch, which might increase the 80 x 66
limit to 132 x 88. That is not super, but
let's see what even the lower printer
limit can do. (The examples shown here
are all printed. To see them on a screen.

use I'rini instead of I print in the
programs.)

The first problem I encountered was
how to embolden the intersections for
CRT display or printiiv After some
experimentation, I settled on using a pe-
riod to show the curves by themselves
and an H to show points of intersection.
I found also in my experiments that the
low resolution would often keep curves
from intersecting, that is. from crossing
a horizontal character line in the same
column position. Consequently, I de-
cided to use the character pair ][ in the
two adjacent columns where "near inter-
sections'' occurred. This is a little like an
H centered between two columns. The
results of these choices can be seen in the
example of Figure 1A.

Second. I faced the problem of getting
the curves into shape for meaningful
printing. Rather than calculate directly
to a line of print err screen display, I
chose to work with an array of numbers
sized to match a printed page. Hence, in
the programs presented here, there is a
PRINTARRAV dimensioned into (80,63)
elements. The program sets the 1 bit of
any element that is a member of overlay
1. and the 2 bit of any element that is a
member of overlay 2. When finished,
then, any element that is at an intersec-
tion has the value 3. After all the array
calculations are finished, it is quite easy
to plot it out with H's and ]['s according
to the previous decisions

In the low resolution of character
graphics, overlays of just straight lines

175

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Moire, continued...

don't work very well, by which I mean
that the resulting patterns are not very
obvious or interesting. Curves work bet-
ter. Further, if the lines in two overlays
cross at steep angles, the effect is not
very good; it is better that the lines be
nearly parallel. The step or distance be-
tween overlay lines is critical, too, and
should not be too small, or the display
will be cluttered or too large, or the
moire pattern will not be easily visible.
All of these considerations apply to pixel
pattern moires as well.

I wrote two sorts of program, both us-
ing the printarray technique. The first
kind of program used generating func-
tions to locate the elements of each
curve. For example, Y = X/2-I is a gen-
erating function for a family of straight
lines (remember the math, y = mx +
b). The counter I is stepped in the pro-
gram to generate each member of the
family of curves in the overlay.

The second sort of program was
developed because I wanted to work
with "zone plates" (to be described).
There was no easy generating function,
so the alternate approach was to deter-
mine for each element of the
printarray whether or not it was a
member of the pattern.

Listing 1 shows the program that gen-
erated the character example of Figure
1A. The program has three main sec-
tions. Lines 10 through 1 10 define the
print array and the generating functions.
Lines 130 through 370 fill the array with
the overlays. Lines 390 through 510
print the array (interpreted to H's and
]['s) to the line printer. To get other
moire patterns with this program it is
necessary only to change lines 100 and
110, and sometimes lines 180 and 290,
since the range and step in the index I
may need revision for the specified fam-
ily to cover the printed page.

The work with "Fresnel zone plates"
required a different approach to the
generation of the print array. In a zone
plate, the pattern is made up of concen-
tric rings in which the area of each ring
is the same, including the non-shaded
rings and the central circle. The moire
patterns made with zone plate overlays
have remarkable properties, and I
wanted to see if they would be evident
even with low-resolution character
graphics.

The program in Listing 3 fills the
print array with a zone plate image by
what I call "brute force." It is not amaz-
ingly clever, but it gets the job done. It
examines each element of the array,
determines what band of the zone plate
it is in, and assigns the element to be
light (a space, in the array), or dark (a
period, 1 in the array). The program ac-
tually calculates two zone plates, one
offset from the other by the amount B in

February 1984 ' Creative Computing

Listing I. The character moire program with all comments. The generating functions
are at lines Kill and 1 10. the family generating loops at lines ISO and 2'H).

10 REM | PRNM0IRI.BSC 7/31/83 MARK GARDNER

20 REM ; Program to generate ps* udo-moir* patterns on non-graphics printtr.

30 REM

40 REM j Define squart array for printtr <x(col) by ytlintl)

50 REM ; (Column N80 it not printed, allows J+l subscript in print routine)

60 DIM PRINTARRAY(80,63>

70 REM

80 REM ; Establish functions for filling. Functions must bt structurtd

90 REM ; such that an indtx will gtntratt a family of curves.

100 DEF FNPAT1 - X/2 - I

110 DEF FNPAT2- X/<2.8 - .8*1/79) - I

120 REM

130 REM | Execute tht functions to fill th* array

140 REM ; (Not* that rang* of I should be set to fill array,

ISO REM t and that sttp should b* mad* to keep pattern clear.)

160 REM

170 REM | First, for patttrn 1

180 FOR I » -79 TO 79 STEP 4

190 FOR X - TO 79

200 Yl - FNPAT1

210 IF YKO OR Yl>63 THEN GO TO 240

220 PRINTARRAY(X,Y1)»PRINTARRAY(X,Y1) ♦ 1

230 REM DNSTYI i DON'T SET ARRAY PATTERN FOR Yl

240 PRINT "!•;

230 NEXT X

260 NEXT I

270 REM

280 REM ; Next, for pattern 2

290 FOR I « -79 TO 79 STEP 4

300 FOR X - TO 79

3J0 Y2 » FNPAT2

320 IF Y2(0 OR Y2)63 THEN GO TO 330

330 PRINTARRAY<X,Y2)»PRINTARRAY(X,Y2)*2

340 REM DNSTY2! DON'T SET ARRAY PATTERN FOR Y2

330 PRINT *2"|

360 NEXT X

370 NEXT I

380 REM

390 REM ; Print th* patttrn

400 FOR I « TO 63

410 FOR J - TO 79

ARRELM • PRINTARRAYU.I)

IF ARRELM - THEN LPRINT ■ ■ ; : GO TO 490

IF ARRELM - 3 THEN LPRINT 'H* J I GO TO 490

IF ARRELM ♦ PRINTARRAY( J«l , I ) » 3 THEN LPRINT Ti I 00 TO 490
PRINTARRAY(J-1,I) - 3 THEN LPRINT *[*| i GO TO 490

420
430
440
430
460
470

IF ARRELM ♦

LPRINT "."i
480 REM NEXTJ1 I
490 NEXT J
300 LPRINT
310 NEXT I
320 REM

330 REM | End this nifty program
340 SYSTEM
330 END

each axis. The equations in lines 44 and
46 are the generating functions, solved
to determine the distance from the cen-
ter; that distance is then compared
against the list of bounding radii in the
data statement, while a count is kept to
determine the light/dark decision. The
same print routine as before copies the
array out to the printer.

The four patterns in Figure 2 are the
output from this program. The first pat-
tern shown gives only the zone plate
overlay, accomplished by deleting lines
72 to 92 of the program. The second pat-
tern is from the unaltered program, with
a lateral offset of 10 lines. The striking

thing about zone plate patterns is that
the result is a set of straight lines, which
are evident even at this resolution.

The third pattern has the second zone
plate offset by 10 lines and 10 columns.
There are still the straight line results,
but now they are tilted. The lines were
close enough together that the ]['s asso-
ciated with near intersections seemed to
clutter up the picture, so I modified the
print routine for the version shown in
the fourth to eliminate them, and the re-
sult shows the moire lines much more
clearly.

This ended my work with character
moires, but there is plenty of opportu-

179

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CIRCLE 116 ON READER SE

Moire, continued...

nity for other generating functions and
criteria, and I have shown you two dif-
ferent ways to fill the print array. On
now, to more dense dot matrix patterns.

Dot Matrix Displays

I had available three means to try for
higher resolution moire patterns. First, I
used the dot graphic capability of my
printer, using the same programming
procedures that I have already de-
scribed. Second, under TBasic on my
computer there is a set of graphics com-
mands that makes circles, ellipses, and
line segments very simply. These com-
mands are essentially identical to the set
provided with the IBM PC Basic. Third,
I had access to a Vectrix VX384 con-
trolled by a Kaypro II, which allowed
me to check out a little of what my ref-
erence said about color illusions asso-
ciated with moire patterns

For the graphics printer, I used essen-
tially the same approach as for the
character patterns. However, the

Figure 2. Zone plate patterns. 2A shows a
single zone plate. 2B. shows two with offset
of 10 lines, 2C shows two with offset of III
lines and It) columns, 2D is the same as
2C hut with || pairs suppressed.

In 2B. 40 XCl = J - 39 : YC1 = I- .?/

In 2 A. lines 72 to 92 are deleted from
Listing .?.

t ELSE INSERT

Listing .?.

10 DIM PRINTARRAY<79.63>

20 DATA 12.62,17.84,21.83,23.23,28.21,30.9.33.38,35.68,37.83.39.8?

25 B * 10

30 FOR 1-0 TO 63 : FOR J«0 TO 79
40 XCl « J - 39 ♦ B: YC1 - I - 31

42 XC2 » J - 39 : YC2 - I - 31 - B

43 YC1 - 1.6666*YC1 : YC2 - 1.6666»YC2

44 RC1 = SQR<XC1»XC1 + YC1»YC1)
46 RC2 » SQR<XC2«XC2 ♦ YC2»YC2)
50 RESTORE 20

52 FOR K - 1 TO 10

54 READ RNEXT

56 IF RNEXT < RC1 THEN GOTO 70

58 IF K MOD 2 = 1 THEN INSERT

60 PRINTARRAY< J, I >=INSERT

62 K« 1 1

70 NEXT K

72 RESTORE 20

74 FOR K = 1 TO 10

76 READ RNEXT

78 IF RNEXT < RC2 THEN GOTO 92

80 IF K MOD 2 « 1 THEN INSERT -

82 PRINTARRAYiJ,I)=PRINTARRAY<J,I)+INSERT

84 K=l 1

92 NEXT K

168 NEXT Ji NEXT I

170 FOR I - TO 63

180 FOR J - 1 TO 78

190 ARRELM - PRINTARRAY< J . I >

200 IF ARRELM - THEN LPRINT " "j

203 IF ARRELM = 4 THEN LPRINT " ■;

206 IF ARRELM = 8 THEN LPRINT ■ ■;

210 IF ARRELM - 3 THEN LPRINT "H";

211 IF ARRELM = 12 THEN LPRINT "H"»

220 IF ARRELM + PRINTARRAY<J-U .I> ■ 3

221 IF ARRELM+PRINTARRAY<J-t ,1) - 3

222 IF ARRELM ♦ PRINTARRAYC J+ 1 . I ) ■

223 IF ARRELM ♦ PRINTARRAY< J-l , I ) =
225 LPRINT " . " ;
230 NEXT J
240 LPRINT
250 NEXT I
260 END

300 FOR A ■ 500 TO 5000 STEP 500
310 R » SQR«A/3. 14159)
320 LPRINT R
330 NEXT A

2C.

- 2 ELSE INSERT = 8

GOTO 230

GOTO 230
GOTO 230
GOTO 230
GOTO 230
THEN LPRINT "]"j i GOTO 230
[

THEN LPRINT

12 THEN LPRINT "]"|

12 THEN LPRINT "t")

t :G0T0 230

GOTO 230
GOTO 230

February 1984 Creative Computing

ln2D.4UXCl=J-.V)-B: YCl = I-.V
delete lines 220 through 22.1

181

Moire, continued...
amount of memory required to hold an
entire page in advance of printing is
phenomenal (72 x 160 dots per inch).
Consequently, 1 modified the print array
to be only a single line of graphics print,
8 dots high by 1280 dots wide. The X-Y
axes are effectively swapped, so that

each 1280-dot line corresponds to a single
X value of the generating function. The
final program is shown in Listing 2. Added
at the beginning of the program now is an
assembly code routine that sends individual
characters to the printer. This is because
my MBasic patiently counts everything
sent to the printer and inserts a carriage

return and linefeed after every 132 char-
acters, whether you like it or not. Your
Basic may or may not do this, but with
lines 1280 characters long, it was plain
annoying.

This particular program generated the
example in Figure 1. Figure 3 shows
four additional examples, again showing

Figure 3. Four additional dot matrix moire patterns.

WMM

340 DEF FNPAT1
330 DEF FNPAT2

381 I ■ -1280

382 J ■ -1280

2»X - J
2.1»X - J

340 DEF FNPAT1 « X/2 - I

350 DEF FNPAT2 = X/C2.8 -

ABS<. 8*1/127?) >

400
561

(deleted)
J - J ♦ 10

562 I - I ♦ 10 ♦ 3»SIN(I/100)

563 IF K1280 THEN 60 TO 420
580 (deleted)

340 DEF FNPAT1 - S0R(X»X ♦ 1»1> - I

350 DEF FNPAT2 » SQR<X»X ♦ ABS<I)"2.3> - I

400 FOR I - -880 TO 2000 STEP 10

182

340 DEF FNPAT1 » X/<2 ♦ .3»<SIN< 1/880) >)
350 DEF FNPAT2 - X/2. 23 - I

381 SI ■ 10

382 I - -1200

400 SI = 10 ♦ 4»SIN((I/10 HOD 10)/10)

580 (deleted)

581 I - I ♦ SI

582 IF I < 200 THEN GO TO 400

February 1984 c Creative Computing

^■^H

the lines changed from the origin pro-
gram in Listing 2. The first pattern is the
raditional wetted silk look. The genera,!
ing functions give simple parallel
tra.ght mes, each set with a slightly dif-
ferent slope (2.1 and 2), but li,h the
spacing of one set controlled as a func-
tion of the index. »aiunc
The second pattern has one set of lines
with variable slope involving an absolu"
value, thus putting an interesting series
of corners ,n the resultant pattern. The
third is generated with some Pythago-
rean promises and deserves a title

The last pattern is made from a gen-
era ing pattern with variable slope as

T. V" K, Spadng ,hat is a fun «io" of
the index. Note in those two programs

The FORM C S,epS> ,h3t ' had <° re ^e
tne hOR I loop, since my MBasic would

not recognize recalculation of the step
size once the loop was started

I should point out that these patterns
take from one to five hours per page to
print, depending on the complications of
the generating functions and the ranee
and step of the generating index

Figure 4 shows a pattern that didn't
work very well and a pattern that
shouldn t have worked at all, but did
I he first one was an attempt to recreate
he visual effect I often see driving on
the freeway, looking through the two
chain-lmk fences on pedestrian
overcrossings. The fence wires are too
fine for me to see, but I can often see a
moire pattern, and it is always di-
amonds, just like the generating overlay
In the printed pattern of Figure 4A
two sets of squares overlay, one set only
slightly smaller than the other The
resultant square (actually, double
square) pattern can be discerned, but it
is not as exciting as I had hoped. The
reason it didn't turn out well, I believe
was that I could not print real squares of
wo different sizes on my printer given
the resolutions 160 and 72, the quotient
of which is not integral.

n T he . ( ? h , er pa,,ern in Fi « ur e 4B is a
fluke. I did two dumb things that turned
out as you see. The first thing was to
make the generating functions both give
straight lines with the same slope, but
with the interline spacing of one set vari-
able with the index. Without the other
change, this would have resulted in the
wholly uninteresting arrangement of
which just a snatch is shown in Figure

-S'l, a' I WaSn i' Sa,isf,ed ' at the time
with the horrendous length of time that

each print was taking, and I executed

my very good idea of limiting the index

xiS '° Just ,hose ° f use in a P articular

This required solving the generating
equations for I with Y=0 and Y= 1280
Then the index could be merely stepped

™ UE? ' HRM °"»1.BSC 8-3-83 NARK Gapomcd

._•_.-• —-cm 'OUIini

! on,^ INTS T0 " DESCRIPTOR

i POINT TO SECOND BYTE

I PICK UP LSB OF CHAR POINTER

jANO PUT IN HL REGISTER

1 POINT TO THIRD BYTE

SPICK UP MSB OF CHAR POINTER

•AND PUT IN HL REGISTER

iPUT CHARACTER INTO E REGISTER

.•ESTABLISH LIST OUT FUNCT IS

(AND TURN CONTROL TO BDOS

40 REM |

70 REM )1NX

80 REM jLDAX D

»0 REM iMOU L,A

100 REM lINX D

110 REM |LDAX D

120 REM ,M0V H,A

130 REM jMOV E.M

M0 REM |MUI c,3

130 REM jJMP 3

140 REM

170 REM OUTPRGs OUTPUT PROGRAM

KKMMsi """< »*.

200 FOR I - TO II

210 READ XX

220 POKE AH40M.XX

230 NEXT I

240 DEF USR - &H40

250 REM

E S , ^ PcU » wP ^7^'^-rcHR < 9 ? 27 d r:.v 1 ;.? od '' <-"••• ■»«. . dv .„c.

310 DIM D0TK<i279> <»'»">*>on 9

320 REM

340 E UBK'aS .*,""'"• ,UnCti °" •- «• I-IIIF .« C Urw .,
330 DEF FNPAT2 . x/<2 , .3.<S,N<„880m - ,

380 S I - F °0 r W" " "» M* <144 *., „ dpI , „ ,„„„,

39Q DCM . c

To rem 011 ■ --^"'ssts n th ' <iB,,y «-

«0 mSKSET F °- T h X V " U# °" th# «"«•« UN

430 FOR X - L»8 TO L«8*7
<«0 MASKSET-MASKSET«I

4=0 MASK-2'MASKSET

1 ' y, .£,' *"• Wopr'-lt V bltt
Y I - INT<FNPAT1)

IF YK0 OR YDI279 THEN GO TO 310
D0TSXCYI>-DOTSX<Yl> OR Mask'
300 REM NEXTYi *"" 0R m8K

j"° Y2 - 1NT<FNPAT2>

530 ILl™ 0R Y2>12 " THEN GO TO 560

5 5 4 3 REM , 00T ^ x Y f > X -»0T SX< Y2> OR MASK™

550 REM NEXTXs

560 NEXT X

SANEST! •*"«♦-"» •-«** ^

390 REM

«o £ ,' . C, r 2 % 5 V h ; J-J '- r*M« by... ,«• pr(nttr

420 DOTSX(I) -

430 NEXT I

440 REM | p rjnt th , graphjc ,.

430 LPRINT CHR.(27)*-sr27y-

440 FOR I > TO 1278

470 A. . USR0 <CHR»CDOTS*)>

480DOTS,<I,. , CLEflRLINEWHILEwrREATiT

700 REM | N.xt I in*
710 LPRINT
720 NEXT L
730 END

470
480
490

February 1984 ■ Creative Computing

183

Moire, continued...

between the determined limits. This
^ r ^lfin,bu.,he ; m,,a 1 hm 1 ,w :; sno

always a tnee round number as it was
when simply set in the do loop. Hence,
eaeh 8-bit wide print line contains pieces
of different family members d.tleren
fom the ones on either side Inclines in
his pattern are all parallel; there is no. a

Fimre 4 Two patterns, one not-so-good
that should have turned out. and a great
one that shouldn't have turned out land
which nun not he a moiri Pattern). 4A
shows overlays of squares of two different
sizes 4B is composed of portions oj parallel
lines with variable spacing. OS shown m
the (ABi interstice.

single intersection on the printout; yet
vou see the striking pattern.
y Zone pla.es in th.s high-resolu on
mode also required changes. The brute
force approach would take ^ever-
every line would require 10,000 1 turns
through the loop. So, I des.gj.ed the pro-
gram shown in Listing 4 to determine : by
direct calculation the points on each lie
that were boundaries of the equal-area
rings. Then, it was much faster and eas-
ier To fill in between pairs ofboundar.es.
The first pattern in Figure 3, a zone
plate was printed with this approach in
Soul 45 minutes. I was able to take
advantage of the higher resolution and
put nearly five times as many rings as lor
the character-based zone plate^ There is
a little bug evident near the bottom o
the pattern. It was not obtrusive, so I

didn't attack it; no doubt it relates to
ordering of the r.ng boundaries in the
vpoints array. . . ,

The first pattern by .tsell can be used
u , create an "optical illusion ot i , moire,
ha. is. an illusion of an illusion. In mod-
era e " light, view the stogie zone plate,
A«mo^theto^ric^)«or^

You will see. or seem to see, mono
along ,he lines of the zone plate Th. •
a mo.re forming OH your ret.na from the
current image and the latent .mage. Th.s
X works well with radial line patterns
In the second pattern of FW"**' l
have simply printed the second zone
p£,c ontopoF.he firs, by repos—g
he paper (this saved enlarging the pro
gram, as I did for the previous ap-
proach). The resultant straight hne
pauern is obvious and well defined. The

■■■■

Listing 4. Program to make high-resolution .one plates. Seed radius

is entered in line 390.

10 REM i HRM01R3.BSC 8-5-83 ^™ J*" ""- B , T GRAPHICS OF PR0UR1TER

TO ATTEMPT A ZONE PLATE PATTERN

40 REM

50 REM

60 REM

70 REM .

80 REM slNX

90 REM |LDAX
100 REM .MOW
110 REM iINX
120 REM ,LDAX
130 REM ;M0V
140 REM ;M0V
150 REM sMVl
160 REM -,JMP

^• W - ""^PO^sCc; DESCRIPTOR
•POINT TO SECOND BYTE
PICK UP LSB OF CHAR POINTER
(AND PUT IN HL REGISTER
;P0INT TO THIRD BYTE
•PICK UP MSB OF CHAR POINTER
,AND PUT IN HL REGISTER
PUT CHARACTER INTO E REG STER
ESTABLISH LIST OUT FUNCTION
,AND TURN CONTROL TO BD0S

L,A

H,A

E,M

C,5

180 REM 0UTPRG: OUTPUT PROGRAM ..,.„.„

190 DATA 19, 26, 111, 19, 26, 103,94, 14,5, 195, 5,0

200 RESTORE 190

210 FOR I ■ TO 11

220 READ XX

230 POKE &H40»I,XX

240 NEXT 1

250 DEF USR - 4H40

27°o rIm ; Put .Hater I. h,gh d.ns.tr .od. . con.pr.ss tin. »d„nc.

300 REM , Est.bl.sh .rr.y us.d .or ..ch I... o* pr.nt.n,
310 REM S Not., this ,s th. Y d.n,.ns,on

3*3. REM ^1^ YP0INTS .rr.X ,OT ho—, "«. «■"■••

340 DIM YPOINTS(IOO)

350 DIM RADIUSC50) «.»»-« 4or th* zon. pl»t»s

380 R^ED 1 91 DETERMINED BY EXPERIMENTATION
390 ASEED ' <RSEED"2>*3. 14159

420 PRINT -RADIUSCI-) = ' RADIUS<1>

February 1984 Creative Computing

184

430 IF RADIUS(I) > 425 THEN GO TO 460

440 NEXT 1

450 REM NOMORR: NO MORE RADII. THANK YOU

440 R1NDX « 1-1

470 YPMID = 50

480 PRINT -MAX RADIUS INDEX «'RINDX

490 REM

500 REM j (OFFSET FOR SECOND ZONE PLATE)

510 BX « 30 : BY »

520 REM j (CENTER OF FIRST ZONE PLATE)

530 CX « 750 : CY « 640

540 REM s (INVERSE EQUATIONS SOLVING FOR Y)

550 DEF FNZONEY - SQR(R*R - XX»XX)

560 DEF FNDIST - R«R - XX«XX

570 REM

For each line on the page (144 dpi, 16 dpi, 11 inches)

■ TO 95

"L";

Figure 5. High-resolution tone plate pat-
terns. SA shows zone plate alone, which
can create retinal illusion. SB shows stmighl
line moire patterns resulting from offset
of two overlays. SC shows zone plate re-
plication when zone plate is overlaid with
straight lines

For each dot line in the group of 8 per printed line
Setup for mask ing it

580 REM

590 FOR L

600 PRINT

610 REM

620 REM

630 REM

640 MASKSET = -I

650 GOTDATA =

660 FOR X = L«8 TO L»8»7

670 PRINT "X";

680 MASKSET = MASKSET ♦ 1

690 MASK = 2*MASKSET

700 REM i Clear the YPOINT arra/

710 FOR I = TO RINDX»2

720 YPOINTS(l) =

730 NEXT I

740 REM

750 REM j Calculate the Y edges for zone intersection with X line

760 XX = 1 .111111»ABS(CX - 2»X)

770 FOR I = TO RIND*

780 PRINT "R":

790 R = RADIUS'. I i

800 RADSOR * FNDIST

810 IF RADSOR < THEN GOTO 900

820 Y = SQR(RADSQRi IN LIEU OF USING THE FUNCTION

830 IF Y > 639 THEN GO TO 900

840 REM

850 REM ; Store those Y edges for later masking to set

860 YPOINTS(YPMID-I>=CY-Y : YPOINTS< YPMID* 1 ♦ I > » CY»Y

870 REM ; Set the got-data flag

880 GOTDATA = 1

890 REM NEXTI1:

900 NEXT I

910 REM

920 REM j Set the bits between appropriate pairs of /POINTS

930 FOR I = 50-RINDX-l to 50*RIND*

940 PRINT "Y";

950 IF YPOINTS(I) = THEN GO TO 1080

in, lit t f

wttVWWW

/ / /('

' / / //Oilltt, ,,.

960

970

980

990

1000

1010

1020

1030

1040

POINTI - YPOINTS(I)

FOR J = 1*1 TO 50»R1NDX*1

IF YPOINTS(J) = THEN GO TO 1060
P0INT2 = YP0INTS(J>
FOR K = POINTI TO P0INT2

DOTS^.'.Ki = DOTSV.(K) OR MASK
NEXT K

I = J
J * 101

1050 REM NEXT J I :
1060 NEXT J

1070 REM NEXTI2:

1080 NEXT I

1090 NEXT X

1100 REM

1110 REM PRINTL:

1120 PRINT

1130 REM j If there is any new data In the line

1140 IF GOTDATA = THEN GO TO 1300

1150 REM ; Print the graphics line

1160 PRINT "SENDING TO PRINTER"

1170 PRINT

1180 LPRINT CHR»(27)*"S1278"i

1190 FOR 1-1270 TO 1279

1200 DOTSX(I) = NULL CHARACTERS FOR PRINTER OVERRUNS

1210 NEXT I

1220 REM

1230 FOR I » TO 1277

1240 A» = USR0 <CHRt(DOTSX( I > > >

1250 DOTSV.(I) » CLEAR LINE WHILE WE'RE AT IT

1260 NEXT I

1270 REM ; Else

1280 REM ; Just advance to the next line

1290 REM ADVANC: ADVANCE THE PRINTER TO NEXT LINE

1300 LPRINT

1310 REM ; End if (If there is new data>

1320 NEXT L

1330 END

February 1984 Creative Computing

185

Moire, continued...

last pattern shows a zone plate overlaid
with simple straight lines. Amazingly,
the moire pattern that results is a mul-
tiple replication of the zone plate.

This concluded my work with the
high-resolution printer, except as de-
scribed below. I moved on to screen
based graphics with Basic graphics com-
mands, which draws circles much, much
faster, and so made experimentation
much easier.

Basic Graphics Command

My Toshiba T100 has an alternate
operating/programming system called
TBasic. It boots directly from disk and is
similar to an Atari or Commodore that
has only Basic available. It is really an
evil environment in which to work, com-
pared to CP/M and M Basic, but since
TBasic has some useful graphics com-
mands, I thought it would be interesting
to try a few things with it. It was cer-
tainly faster; in the previous approaches
it was necessary to calculate individual
pixels on lines and curves. The graphics
commands take care of all of that
automatically.

I have included the individual pro-
grams with each of the patterns I gen-
erated under TBasic. None are
commented, because TBasic provides no
nice development tools for programs.
With CP/M I use WordStar to write
programs; a processing program turns
these into Basic programs with or with-
out the source file comments. This
makes program writing much easier and
encourages comments. None of these
tools is available under TBasic. The arti-
cle text will explain as little as necessary.

Getting the generated patterns printed
is extremely easy. In TBasic, the copy
key on the computer keyboard is active
and prints the screen image directly to
the printer. All that is necessary is to

provide some control to overcome the
dimension squishing that the print op-
eration causes. This can be done in two
ways: put the printer in high resolution
(160 dots per inch), which makes circles
on the screen print as circles on the
printer, though the whole screen image
then occupies only about half the page
width; or, plot ellipses on the screen,
narrow vertically, which then get pulled
out to circles when printed at the normal
80 dots per inch.

The patterns in Figure 6 are printed at
80 dots per inch. The first is akin to the
fence problem I tried with the printer in
graphics mode, except the overlays arc a
dense pattern of small, adjacent circles,
with a smaller center to center spacing

in the second set. A pattern of circles
should emerge. To some extent it does,
but again it is not as striking as one
would like. The remaining patterns in
Figure 6 show an untrodden path. I de-
cided to see what would happen if spirals
were overlaid. Pattern 6B shows two
simple spirals (radius a linear function of
angle) overlaid, one clockwise, and one
counter-clockwise. The program for this
has an interesting complication. As the
calculated elements got further from the
center, the initial one-degree angle step
was too big, and there were gaps in the
lines. Hence, the three groupings shown
allow the step to be changed to one-half
and then one-quarter degree as the spiral
reaches its larger radii.

Figure 6. Four high-resolution main- pattern* printed at <W dots per inch. nA shows
overlapping arrays of small circles. nB. nC. oD are a new adventure with spirals.

1 CLS

2 SCREEN 2

10 FOR I » 1 TO 37

20 FOR J - 1 TO 27

30 CIRCLE (7*1,6»J>,2,,,,1 .03

30 NEXT J

60 NEXT I

110 FOR I - 1 TO 43

120 FOR J - 1 TO 32

130 CIRCLE <6*I,5*J),2,,,,1 .03

150 NEXT J

160 NEXT 1

10 ML » 1

20 SCREEN 2

30 CLS

40 SI - 2*3.14159/360

50 FOR AN - TO 15*2*3.14159 STEP SI

60 G0SUB 210

70 NEXT AN

80 SI - Sl/2

90 ML » ML/2

100 NL - 16*2*3.14159

110 FOR AN « NL TO 30*2*3.14159 STEP SI

120 GOSUB 210

130 NEXT AN

140 SI » Sl/2

150 ML » ML/2

160 NL = 31*2*3.14159

170 FOR AN - NL TO 45*2*3.14159 STEP SI

180 GOSUB 210

190 NEXT AN

200 END

210 RD - RD ♦ ML*. 01

220 RS = RD*S1N<AN)

230 RC « R0»C0S<AN>

240 X - 320 ♦ RS

250 Y » 100 ♦ RC

260 U - 320 ♦ RS

270 Z - 100 - RC

280 PSET <X,Y)

290 PSET <U,Z)

300 RETURN

186

February 1984 Creative Computing

Figure 7. Two high-resolution moire patterns created on the Vectrix VX384 Color System. Note the color illusion in 7B.

10 ML - 1

20 SCREEN 2

30 CLS

40 SI - 2»3. 14139/340

30 FOR AN » TO 13*2*3.14159 STEP SI

60 60SUB 210

70 NEXT AN

80 SI « Sl/2

90 ML « ML/2

100 NL - 16*2*3. 14139

110 FOR fiH - NL TO 30»2»3. 14139 STEP SI

120 GOSUB 210

130 NEXT fiH

140 SI - Sl/2

130 ML « ML/2

160 NL - 31*2*3.1413?

170 FOR AN » NL TO 43*2*3. 14139 STEP SI

180 GOSUB 210

190 NEXT AN
200 END

210 RD - RO ♦ ML*. 01
220 RS - R0«SIN<AN>
230 RC - RD*C0S<AN>
240 X - 310 ♦ RS
230 Y - 100 ♦ RC
260 U => 330 ♦ RS
270 2 » 100 - RC
280 PSET <X,Y)
290 PSET <U,Z)
300 RETURN

10 ML - 1

20 SCREEN 2

30 CLS

40 SI - 2*3.14139/360

30 FOR AN » 20 TO 15*2*3.14159 STEP SI

60 GOSUB 210

70 NEXT AN

80 SI - Sl/2

90 ML » ML/2

100 NL > AN

110 FOR AN » NL TO 30*2*3.14159 STEP SI

120 GOSUB 210

130 NEXT AN

140 SI ■ Sl/2

150 ML - ML/2

160 NL » AN

170 FOR AN » NL TO 45*2*3.14159 STEP SI

180 GOSUB 210

190 NEXT AN
200 END

210 RO ■ AN*AN/250
220 RS - RD»S1N<AN)
230 RC - RD*C0S<AN)
240 X - 3)0 ♦ RS
230 Y - 100 ♦ RC
260 U - 330 ♦ RS
270 2 » 100 - RC
280 PSET <X,Y)
290 PSET (U,Z)
300 RETURN

February 1984 c Creative Computing

In pattern 6C, the two simple spirals
are offset by 20 dots (see lines 240 and
260 of the program). The pattern looks
like radial straight lines, which is as
surprising to me as were the parallel
straight lines of the zone plates. In pat-
tern 6D, I took another bold step and
used a more complex spiral, where the
radius is proportional to the square of
the angle (see line 210). A pattern
emerged that looks something like the
field around the poles of a magnet.

Color Graphics

It is not likely that you have an expen-
sive, high-resolution, infinite color
palette, graphics system in your home.
But one reference made some comments
about color illusions that I wanted to
check. I had access (courtesy of MAC-I,
Calabasas, CA) to a Vectrix VX384 with
672 x 480 dots resolution and a choice of
any 512 of 16 million colors. Trying
moire patterns with such a marvelous
machine was irresistible. The Vectrix
was controlled by a Kaypro II, and I
was able to program in MBasic, this
time using the MBasic line editor, since I
did not have my tools on the Kaypro.

Figure 7 shows three of the many pat-
terns I made, two with the standard
overlapping circles. In the second pat-
tern, the illusion of white (from green
and purple) is clear in the center of the
pattern. In the third pattern (shown on
page 174), radial straight lines of alternating
color, the hoped for illusion was not strik-
ing, but the detail near the center of the
pattern was very rewarding anyway.

That's Not All Folks

This article presents but a fraction of
all the moire patterns I have seen. Now
it's time for you to start that stack of pa-
per running through your printer. Q

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Hidden Surface

Elimination
The Easy Way

Unc of the most studied problems in
the rapidly growing field of computer
graphics is that of hidden surface
elimination. This involves detecting
which surfaces of objects are hidden by
other surfaces and hence should not be
drawn. In this article, we take a look at
one of the simplest hidden surface al-
gorithms and at a program that im-
plements this algorithm. Along the way,
we talk about the perspective trans-
formation itself and clear up some of the
jargon about the different coordinate
systems we use.

Matrix Transformations

The three basic transformations we
will be using are scaling, rotation, and
translation. Both John D. Fowler [1,2]
and Christopher Hansen [3] demon-
strated ways of handling these trans-
formations in earlier issues of Creative
Computing. A cleaner, more uniform
way to represent these transformation
equations is by using matrices.

Figure 1 shows the transformation
equations along with their matrix repre-
sentation for the two-dimensional case.
Adding a third element to the point (x,y)
allows us to multiply it by a 3 x 3 trans-
formation matrix. (Matrix multiplica-
tion is defined only for matrices in which
the number of columns in the first ma-
trix equals the number of rows in the
second.) If your linear algebra is a little

Randi J Rosl, 1405 Woodland Ave. Fairmont. MN
5*031.

February 1984 ' Creative Computing

Randi J. Rost

rusty, you may want to carry out the
matrix multiplications indicated in Fig-
ure 1 to verify that the matrix represen-
tation provides the same results as the
equations.

Using matrices allows

us to concatenate

transformations quite

easily.

Only rarely would we want to perform
just one of the simple transformations.
For instance, if a triangle described by
the points vl =(xl,yl), v2 = (x2,y2), and
v3 = (x3,y3) is to be doubled in size but
remain with one vertex at vl, three
transformations are needed. We cannot
just multiply all of the coordinates by
two. The result would be a triangle that
is twice as large, but would be fixed at
the point (2*xl,2*yl) instead of at
(xl.yl). To obtain the desired result, we
first need a translation by (-xl,-yl) to
translate the triangle to the origin. Then
we can scale all the coordinates by two
and translate by (xl.yl). This moves our
properly scaled triangle back to point vl.

Two or more transformations can be
concatenated (combined) to yield a sin-
gle transformation. This concatenated
transformation will give the same result

Transformation

Equation Form

Matrix Representation

Translation

x' = x + Tx

(x'

y'D = (xyl)/l

°\

y ' = y + Ty

1
\Tx Ty

Scaling

x ' = x * Sx

y ' = y * Sy

(X'

y' 1) = (x y 1)/Sx
I Sy
\0

Rotation

= x*cosfl + y*sin0

(x' y

1) = (x y l)/cos0-sin#

°\

= y*cos0 - x*sin0

[ un0 cote
\

Figure /. Two-dimensional transformations. (Note that rotation is by the angle 0.
where is measured in the clockwise direction.)

189

Hidden Surface, continued.

4-M-

*-+++

a) Original Object

I I I I

H-M-

b) Original Object

Translation by (3,0)

Rotation by 180°

I I 1 I

I I I I

Rotation by 180°

Translation by (3,0)

Figure 2. Order is important in the transformation process.

as the separate, simple transformations,
provided the sequence of transforma-
tions is kept intact. Figure 2 shows that
the transformation process is not com-
mutative, since reversing the order of
transformations can yield entirely dif-
ferent results.

Using matrices allows us to con-
catenate transformations quite easily.
The individual transformation matrices
are multiplied together from left to right
in the order in which they are to occur.
The result is a single transformation
which contains all of the sequence
information. This matrix can now be
used to transform any number of in-
dividual points without having to cal-
culate all the transformation informa-
tion each time. For a long series of
transformations with rotations involving
sines and cosines, the savings can be
considerable. And we would all like our
microcomputers to run at lightning
speed, wouldn't we?

The transformation matrices can be
generalized to three dimensions as well.
Each point in three dimensions is repre-
sented as a 1x4 row vector that looks
like (x y z 1). Similarly, the transforma-
tion matrix increases in size to a 4 x 4
matrix. In three dimensions, we have
three different kinds of rotation with
which to be concerned. It now becomes

190

possible to rotate around the x-axis, the
y-axis, or the z-axis instead of simply
about the origin as in two dimensions.

Matrices to handle these three types of
rotation as well as scaling and transla-
tion are shown in Figure 3.

Transformation
Translation

Scaling

Rotation
about
X-axis

Rotation
about
Y-axis

Rotation
about
Z-axis

Matrix Representation

(x 1 y' z' 1) = (x y z 1)

(x 1 y' z'

l) = (xyzl)/Sx

1) = (xyz 1) /l

(x'y' z 1

(x' y' z' 1) = (xy z 1) /cose

1 °

I -sine

\ °

(x' y'z' 1 ) = (xyz 1)

sin0

o cose

(cos* -sine

sine cose

Figure 3. Three-dimensional transformation matrices. Rotations are by the angle 0,
where is measured in the clockwise direction when viewed from the positive side of
the axis about which the rotation is performed.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Coordinate Systems

Now that we have developed the ma-
trix representation needed to describe
transformations, we need to define some
terms so our discussion may proceed.
All of the points to which we have re-
ferred so far have been points in a carte-
sian coordinate system. The units on this
coordinate system vary from application
to application. An architect may define
his coordinate system to have the origin
at the front right corner of the building,
with the x-axis measuring distance left,
the y-axis measuring depth, and the z-
axis measuring height. Perhaps he will
decide to express the units in meters (or
even feet, as is the custom in some back-
ward countries). An astronomer might

To calculate the

position on the screen

of a particular point on

the object being

displayed, it is

necessary first to

transform the point

into the eye coordinate

system.

wish to have the origin of his coordinate
system at the center of the sun and the
units be in light years or parsecs (con-
trary to popular belief, these are units of
distance, not time).

This somewhat arbitrary choice of a
coordinate system corresponds to some
individual's view of objects in the real
world. For this reason, this coordinate
system, once defined, is known as the
world coordinate system. The object to be
displayed and the position from which it
will be viewed can both be given in
world coordinates.

The image will eventually have to be
displayed using the screen coordinates of
a specific display device. The screen co-
ordinate system is a two-dimensional co-
ordinate system that generally uses x to
denote horizontal screen position and y
to denote vertical position. The Apple
screen coordinate system ranges from
to 279 along the x-axis and from to
191 along the y-axis.

To calculate the position on the screen
of a particular point on the object being
displayed, it is necessary first to trans-
form the point into the eye coordinate
system. This system has the eye centered
at the origin and the z-axis pointed in
the direction of view. This gives us co-
ordinates very close to the form needed
for displaying on the screen. The x and y

February 1984 ■ Creative Computing

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Hidden Surface, continued.

/
/

/ y

/Tx

X—

(a)

(b)

(e)

Figure 4. Steps in the viewing transformation.

axes will be aligned with the x and y axes
of the screen, and the z-axis will indicate
a depth into the scene (distance to the
object.)

The ViewinR Transformation

Figure 4 demonstrates the steps nec-
essary to transform points in the world
coordinate system into points in the eye
coordinate system. This is known as the
viewing transformation.

The first step (Figure 4a) is to trans-
late the origin to the position of the eye.
Any transformation that moves the en-
tire coordinate system is the inverse of
the corresponding transformation that
moves points. Therefore it is necessary
to use negative values for the x, y, and z
translation factors.

The second step (Figure 4b) is to ro-
tate clockwise by -90° about the x-axis to
align the y-axis vertically. Next, (Figure
4c) a rotation about the y-axis is per-
formed so that the projection of the z-
axis onto the xy-plane will be pointing
away from the origin. Another rotation
about the x-axis is performed (Figure
4d) to orient the z-axis so that it now

192

points directly away from the origin.
The final step (Figure 4e) is to invert the
z-axis to point directly at the origin.

We now have coordinates for the ob-
ject in the eye coordinate system so we
are nearly ready to display it. All that is
necessary now is to scale the object so
that it is an appropriate size on the
screen and convert the points into screen
coordinates. This last conversion from
eye to screen coordinates is accom-
plished using the following equations:
x s = (x c /z e )*px-f cl

ys = (y c /z c )*py+c2

where (x e ,y e ,z c ) is the point in eye
coordinates, (cl,c2) is the point corre-
sponding to the middle of the display-
screen, px is the number of pixels hori-
zontally and py is the number of pixels
vertically. The point (x s ,y s ) can now be
plotted on the screen. This transforma-
tion takes straight lines in the eye co-
ordinate system to straight lines in the
screen coordinate system. Therefore it is
necessary only to transform the end-
points of an edge of an object into screen
coordinates, then draw the line connect-
ing them.

Hidden Surfaces Be Gone!

One way to make a complicated task
easier is to restrict the conditions under
which it is guaranteed to work. In this
case we will limit the class of objects on
which our hidden surface algorithm will
work to the set of convex polyhedra. A
convex polyhedron is a solid bounded by
many faces in which none of the interior
angles is greater than 180°. Thus cubes,
solid rectangles, and pyramids are all
convex polyhedra, while an L-shaped
house is not, since the interior angle at
the bend of the L is 270°.

This restriction on the type of object
makes it easy to determine which sur-
faces are visible and which are not. All
we have to do is eliminate surfaces of the
object that are facing away from the
viewer. The geometry of a convex poly-
hedron guarantees that such faces will
be obscured by other faces that are
pointed toward the viewer.

How do we determine whether or not
a surface is oriented toward the viewer?
The first step is to compute an outward-
facing normal for the face of the object
under consideration. You will recall that

February 1984 Creative Computing

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lidden Surface, continued...
D, -^C

Figure 5. Points A. B. and C on a face of
an object can be used to compute vectors
Vand W.

a vector normal to a plane is just a vec-
tor that is perpendicular to the plane.
You may also recall that taking the cross
product of two vectors always yields a
third vector that is normal to the first
two vectors.

Order is important in the cross prod-
uct operation though. Figure 5 shows
the vertices of a square face and two vec-
tors, V and W, that have been defined by
the points A, B, and C. Taking VsW
results in a vector that is pointing di-
rectly out of the page, with its initial
point at A. Taking W x V will yield a
vector that is also based at A, but point-
ing directly into the page.

A mnemonic to aid in remembering
the orientation of a cross product is the
"right hand rule." It states that if you
place the bottom edge of your right hand
along the first vector and curl your fin-
gers in the direction of the second vec-
tor, your right thumb will point in the
direction of the cross product vector.
Clearly, if we always specify the vertices
of a face in counterclockwise order when
viewed from the outside, we can always
use the first three points to form vectors
V and W and V x W will be an outward-
facing normal.

Whew! That sounded pretty tough,
but really it is not so bad. A vector is
formed by taking the x, y. and z compo-
nents of one point and subtracting the x,
y, and z components of the second point.
Imagine that the square in Figure 5 is
one of the faces of our object. We can get
one vector (V) by taking B-A and the
second vector (W) by taking C-A. These
computations must be performed in the
eye coordinate system, since we are con-
cerned with the relationship between the
eye and a specific face of the object.

Now we have our outward-facing nor-
mal, so let's get a vector from the eye to
the base of that normal. The normal we
just computed will have its initial point
at the first vertex of the face (point A),

February 1984 Creative Computing

Figure h. Viewing the "roofofa house-shaped object. I he hue whose normal vector
makes an acute angle with the vector from the eye is visible while the one that makes
an obtuse angle is not.

and the eye will be at the point (0, 0, 0).
Therefore, the components of this eye-
to-object vector will be the same as the
x, y, z components of point A.

Figure 6 shows a viewer looking at the
roofofa house. Normals have been com-
puted for both parts of the roof, and the
vector between the eye and the base of
each normal is also shown. Guess what?
The angle between the eye vector and
the normal vector is acute (less than 90°)
for the face that is visible, and obtuse
(greater than 90") for the face that isn't
visible. That is all there is to this hidden

A mnemonic to aid in

remembering the

orientation of a cross

product is the "right

hand rule."

surface algorithm. All we need to do is
compute those two vectors and check
the angle between them for each face of
the object. If the angle is obtuse, we
throw that face out and go on to the next
one. If it is acute, we draw it. Simple,
huh?

How do we tell if the angle is greater
than 90"? Two more tricks will help, one
each from trigonometry and linear al-
gebra. First, the cosine of any angle be-
tween 90° and 180° is negative. Second,
an easy way to compute the cosine of the
angle involved is to take the dot product
of the two vectors and divide by the
length of each vector. The dot product
of two vectors U and V is written as U V
and is just

U-V = (ux uy uz) - (vx vy vz) =
ux*vx + uy*vy + uz*vz
Since we need to know only whether the
cosine is positive or negative, we don't

even have to divide the dot product by
the lengths of the two vectors. We can
simply compute the dot product of the
two vectors, and if the result is less than
zero, the face is hidden from view and
need not be drawn.

Degrees of Freedom

There are actually seven parameters,
or "degrees of freedom" that must be
specified to display an object as seen
from any vantage point. Three of these
are involved in the difference between
the position of the object and the view-
ing location. Two more degrees of free-
dom are defined by specifying either two
angles or a point toward which the gaze
is directed. For instance, when viewing a
house, the image is shifted up and down
or left and right depending on whether
you are looking at the chimney or the
doorknob on the front door.

The horizon may also be rotated to al-
ter the orientation of the image. This
corresponds to the pictures you get by
rotating a camera through some angle.
The last parameter is just a scaling fac-
tor. A telephoto lens will produce the
same result: a larger image.

The Program

The program that incorporates the
hidden surface algorithm is shown in
Listing I. I have tried to put all of the
system-dependent items near the top of
the program, and I point them out as we
run in to them. The (*$S*) at the begin-
ning is used to put the Apple Pascal
compiler in swapping mode so that
larger programs can be compiled. Apple
Pascal gets routines for graphics and
transcendental functions like sine and
cosine from libraries called units. The
two special Apple libraries that contain
these functions are Turtlegraphics and
Transcend. This explains the "uses"
statement right after the program
statement.

195

Hidden Surface, continued..

Figure 7. Perspective view of I he cube defined by the data in Listing 2. The viewing ._-

position was (5,5,5). the focus point was (0.0.0). horizon [ •• ...
rotation was Of. and scaling factor was 6.

Functions like moving to a point on
the graphics screen without drawing,
drawing a line, and reading data will
also be system-dependent. The eye-to-
screen conversion will need to be
changed if screen coordinates on your
system differ from the 280 x 192 of the
Apple. (Also note that the point (0,0) is
in the lower lefthand corner in Apple
Pascal.)

The program begins by reading in the
data for the object to be displayed. The
Readdata procedure expects to find the
data for an object in a file called
DATAFILE.TEXT on a disk in device
#4 (slot 6, drive I.) The data should be
organized in the following manner:

1. The first line of the file should con-
tain the number of faces of the object.

2. The object should have one vertex
at the point (0 0). (All vertices in the
file will be in the world coordinate
system.)

3. For each face, an arbitrary starting
vertex is chosen. X, Y, and Z-co-
ordinates for this point are written on
the next line of the file.

4. Successive lines of the file contain
the remaining vertices of the face. These
vertices should be specified in counter-
clockwise order when viewed from the
outside, so that outward-facing normals
can be computed.

5. The starting vertex is also the end-
ing vertex, and is written into the file a
second time.

6. A line consisting of -999 is writ-
ten to indicate the end of information for
that face.

7. Steps 3 through 6 are repeated for
each face.

Listing 2 shows the data for specifying a
cube with edges of length 1.

After the data have been read in, the
user is prompted for the viewing param-
eters. Those familiar with the unforgiv-
ing nature of Apple Pascal I/O will
know better than to make any typing
mistakes. World coordinates arc used to
specify a position from which to view
the object and a point toward which the
gaze will be directed. A horizon rotation
and a scaling factor complete the
information needed to compute the
viewing transformation.

Once the transformation matrix is ob-
tained, the screen is cleared, and the ob-
ject is drawn. For each face, three points
are transformed into eye coordinates and
used to compute a normal. This vector is
then dotted with the vector from the eye.

196

Listing 2.

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

-999.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

-999.0

0.0

l.O

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

-999.0

o.o

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

-999.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

-999.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

-999.0

0.0

If the result is positive, the rest of the
vertices of that face are transformed and
the edges drawn. Otherwise, the face is
hidden, so it is not necessary to trans-
form the rest of the points or draw the
face.

Pascal is useful for breaking a
programming task into smaller subtasks.
Each of these subtasks is relatively easy
to code, leading to an overall reduction
of programming effort. In this program,
I have used separate procedures for mul-
tiplying two matrices, transforming a
single point, calculating dot and cross
products, and so on.

Extensions, Enhancements, Etc.

The most obvious extension to this
program is to include data for your own
shape, in the format outlined above. Be
advised that this program does not do
three-dimensional clipping. If you spec-
ify a viewing location too near the ob-
ject, some of the edges may extend off
one side of the screen and wrap around
to the other. Details on how clipping
may be performed can be found in ref-
erence [6].

Other enhancements include error-
trapping during the user input and the
usual speed and efficiency improve-
ments. The format for the data file is
quite redundant, sometimes leading to a
single vertex being included six times in
the file. Such inefficiencies were ignored
so as not to clutter the program and to
retain maximum clarity of the algorithm
itself.

Conclusion

The human brain is able to absorb and
assimilate graphic information much
more readily than numeric information.
A perspective view of an architect's de-
sign is more readily understood than a
textual description. Computer graphics
can make the computer easier to use, as
well as expanding its usefulness. We arc-
only now beginning to see the impact
that graphics can have on business, sci-
ence and engineering, and the arts. The
principles of tranformations and co-
ordinate systems discussed in this article
will give you a good start toward under-
standing the graphics applications of
tomorrow. ES

Listings on pp. 198

References

1. Fowler, John D., Jr., "Stereo
Graphics: Part 1," Creative Computing.
Jan. 1983.

2. Fowler, John D., Jr., "Stereo
Graphics: Part 2," Creative Computing.
Feb. 1983.

3. Hansen, Christopher, "A Graphics
Package for the Apple," Creative
Computing. July 1982.

4. Isaak, S. and Manougian, M. N.,
Basic Concepts of Linear Algebra. W. W.
Norton & Co., New York, 1976.

5. Leithold, Louis, The Calculus With
Analytic Geometry. Third Edition.
Harper & Row, New York, 1976.

6. Newman, W. M., and Sproull, R.
F., Principles of Interactive Computer
Graphics. Second Edition, McGraw-Hill,
Inc., New York, 1979.

February 1984 Creative Computing

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Hidden Surface, continued.

Listing 1.

Thim program Mill draM a three-dimensional perspective vi»w of the
convti polyhwlran dncribid by data point* in the file ' DATAFILE.TEXT'

Authort Randi J. Romt
Dates Feb. 10, 1987

program draM3d (input, output, datafile))
uses transcend, turtlegraphicsi

const

aaxf aces-10O|
maxpts'SOOl
pi-3. 14139)

type

matrix - array CI.. 4, 1..4J of real l

where i array 1 1 . ,ui<kis] of int»g»ri

xpt, ypt, zpti *rray Cl..maxptsl of real I

mat, tl, t2l matrix)

xl, yli real)

nuafaces, nextpt, avail > integer]

eyex, eyey, eyez i real;

fx, fy, fzi real |

dl, d2i real |

horizrot, dsi real;

datafilei text)

vl, v2, v3i real |

Ml, m2, m3i real)

nl, n2, n3i real |

tempi, temp2, temp3i real I

dott real |

startl integer)

chi char |

procedure initscrn;
(*

Turn on graphics mode and clear screen.
*)

begin

initturtlei
end |

procedure moveabs(x,yi real);
(•

Move to position (x,y) without drawing.

begin

pencolor (none) |

moveto (round (x ) , round (y> > l
end |

procedure drawjb»(»,yi real))
(*

Move to position (x,y> and draw the line in Mhite.
• >

begin

pencolor (Mhite) |

moveto (round (x) , round (y> > )
end |

procedure readdatai
(•

Read the shape data from the file DATAFILE.TEXT.
*>

ver

it integer |

begin

reset (data* He, '(Midataf lie. text' ))

avail i -1 >

readln(dataf lle,nuaf aces) i

for ii»l to nuafaces do

February 1984 c Creative Computing

IHIIIHHHB

begin

wher e t ill <<vn 1 1
repeat

readln<dataf ile, xptCavail], yptCavail], zpttavail])|
avail t 'aval 1*1
until xptCavail-1] - -999;
and |

and |

procadura eyetoecreen <x , y, z i raal | var »,iyi raal ) |
(•

Tr«m<or» a point from x,y,z aya coordinataa to x,y acraan coordinataa.

begin

axi»0. 83*140* (x/z)-H40|

ayi-96*(y/z)+9bf
and)

procadura tranaf ore < var x,y,zi raal ) |
(•

Transform a point into aya coordinataa by Multiplying a point <x,y,z,l)
by tha 4x4 viaMing transformation.
*>

bagin

tamp 1 1 'x |
teep2l-y|
temp3i »z|

xi-aattl, llttaapl ♦ mat C2, 1 l»tamp2 ♦ mat t 3, 1 ] *tamp3 ♦ Mt[4,l]|
y i -mat CI, 23 « tempi ♦ mat C2, 21«tamp2 ♦ mat C3, 21*tamp3 ♦ matC4,21|
zi-matCl,3)»tampl ♦ mat C 2, 31«tamp2 ♦ mat [3, 3 J*tamp3 * matC4,3]|
and|

procadura multmat<var m3i aatrixi ml,m2i matrix);
(*

Multiply matrices mlxm2 and raturn rasult in m3.
*>

var

i,ji intagar;
bagin

-for ii«l to 4 do
for Ji-1 to 4 do

m3Ci , jli-mlCi , 1 ]»m2C 1, j ] • ml t i , 2 J*m2C 2, j ] * ml [ i , 33*m2C3, j 3
* mlCl ,4]»m2C4, Jl;
and |

procadura initmat(var mil matrix);
(*

Inltializa a 4x4 matrix to tha identity matrix.
*>

var

i,ji intagar;
bagin

for il-1 to 4 do
for Ji-1 to 4 do
if 1 <> J
than

mlCl, jli-O
•lsa

mlC),jli-l;
and |

procadura gat x product;

(•

Thia procadura ia uaad to compute a vector that ia an outward-facing
normal to tha face undar consideration. Tha firat three vertices of the
face arm uaed to give us too vectors which arm crossed to give us the
normal <nl n2 n3>.

begin

vli«xpttatart*U-xpttatart3|

v2i-yptCatart*ll-yptCatartl|

v3i"zpttatart*l 1-zpttatart 1;

Mli-xptCatart+21-xptCatartli

m2i »ypt Cater t*21-ypt Cat art 1 ;

i.3i»zptCatart*23-zptCatart]|

nil -v2In3- v3»w2;

n2i-v3*wl-vl»w3;

n3l «vl (m2-v2*m1 ;
end |

procedure getdotproduct (var dotval i real);
<•

Thia procedure will compute the dot product of the normal vector to
a face and the vector from the eye position to the base of the normal.

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Hidden Surface, continued...

I* thlm value turn* out to be less than zsro, the -face under consideration

r.i'r.iihi vr. c;oiRp?i ting's

1984

BUYER'S

GUIDE

Is hidden, end need not be plotted.
*)

begin

teapll'xpttstartll

temp2i>yptCstart]|

teep3i -zpt C start 1 1

dotvali'nltteapl * n2(teep2 • n3*temp3|
end|

procedure draxface (facanoi integer) ■
(•

Draw a face of the object that has been found to be visible.

TO PERSONAL

COMPUTERS &

1 1 integer i

PERIPHERALS

begin

i I'MhereCf acenoli

eyetoscreen (xptCil, yptCil, zptCi], xl, yl)|

moveabs (xl, yl>;

•SuWiu**

li-i*ll

while xptCil <> -999 do

Lr I^b^I

begin

M. ^MWeMel

eyetoscreen (xptCi], yptCi], zptCi], xl, yl);
drawabs (xl, yl)|

i i»»*l|
end|

•-: ^7-~^o-»

end|

[ '~7*>

procedure xforeSpts (facei integer) i

Transform first three points of a face so we can get a dot product and

Advice you can trust on

datmrmine if the rest of the vertices need to be transformed .

selecting personal com-

puters, peripherals and

begin

electronic games

nextpti-MhereCf acelf
start i -nex tpt I

Unless you have the memory of a com-

transfore(xptCnextptl, yptCnextpt], zptCnextpt]) i

puter there's no way you can keep track of

nex tpt i «naxtpt+l |

all the games, programs and peripherals

transfore(xptCnextpt], yptCnextpt], zptCnextpt]) |

available for your computer And even if
you could, you'd still have a problem figur-

nex tpt i "nex tpt +1 ;

transform (xptCnaxtpt:, yptCnextpt], zptCnextpt 3) 1
nex tpt i "nex t p t + 1 1
end i

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procedure xforare«t|

als. It's a comprehensive collection of
product reviews and consumer-oriented

I* the? face? is visible, transform the rest of the vertices.

shopping advice put together by the

• )

experts at Creative Computing magazine.

begin

You'll get a rundown of what's new on the

while xpttnextptl <> -999 do

market Analysis of new product perform-

begin

ance, reliability, operation, applications,

transform (xpt Cnex tpt 3 , yptCnextpt 3, zptCnextpt!) |

cost- even what kind of repair service you

nextpti *nextpt + l |

can expect. Easy-io-understand compari-

endf
end|

sons between different models Tips on

bugs and design problems Plus "inside"

information you won't get from manuals or

procedure drawpici

salespeople

(•

Don't buy until you've consulted the 1984

Draw the three-dimensional perspective view of the object (no clipping).

Buyer's Guide to Personal Computers &

Peripherals! Order your copy today.

v«r

ISend to mmc

ii integer i
begin

1 Creative Computing Buyer's Guide

for ii«l to num-faces do

CN 1914, Morristown, NJ 07960

begin

YESI Please rush me Creative Com

xf orn3pts ( l > f
getxproduct |

puting's 1984 Buyer's Guide to Personal

getdotproduct (dot) i

1 Computers & Peripherals. Enclosed is my

if dot >»

j check or money order for $3.95 plus $ 1 for

then

! postage and handling.

begin

xf oretresti

j Mr/Mrs./M

« j

drawf aced ) |
end*
end|

(please punt)

• AHHrps<;

end i

1 r,| y 1

procedure gttvieweiti

• State 7ip

i.ji integerf

begin

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February 1984 c Creative Computing

<» Translate origin to eye position
aatC4, Hie, ■ys W |

— tI4 t 21 f mymyi

eat C 4 , 3 3 1 — eyez i
initaat (tl>|

Rotate about x-axis by 90 degrees «>

tlC2,2]l-0|

tlC3,33l-0|

tlC3,2Jl-l|

tlC2,3Ji — 1|

eultaat (t2,eat,tl>|

«ati-t2|

initaat <tl) |

(* Rotate about y-axis by an angle dependent on -focus point *>

f xi«eyex-f x|
f yi»eyey-f y|
f zi-eyez-f z|

dl l-sqrt KxtfK+fylfyl ;
if abs(dl) > 0.0001
then
begin

Rotate about x-axis by an angle dependent on focus point

d2l-sqrt (f x*f x+f y*f y+f z*f z > |
if abs(d2) > 0.0001
then
begin

<* Rotate about z-axis to rotate horizon ()

(« Invert the z-axis «>

tU3,3]i — ll

<» Scale according to d/s ratio *>

tlCl,13t-dsi
tl[2,23i-ds|

«ul t mat ( t2, eat , t 1 ) |
eati-t2l
end |

begin (* DrawSd *)

Mriteln ('starting. • . ' > i

readdatai

Mriteln;

write ('Input x,y,z position of eye?' > |

read In (eyex, eyey, eyez > i

Mritelni

write ('Focus point x f y f z?*>|

readln (fx, fy, fz)|

MTltelnf

write ('Input horizon rotation angle?' )|

readln (horlzrotlp

Mritelni

write ('Input scaling factor?')|

readln (dm) i

getviewaat;

initmcrni

drawpici

read(ch) s
end.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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Simple Screen
Graphics With
MSX Basic

David H. Ahl

Fould you like to be able to draw borders easily, plot a
projectile, or make fancy geometric patterns? With the rich li-
brary of graphics commands built into MSX Basic, it is easy,
but it is a bit different from some other computers.

MSX Basic has three screen modes, appropriately called
s< KEEN 0, SCREEN I, and SCREEN 2. SCREEN is the text mode
and permits only limited graphics using the locate command.
Using LOCATE, you can move the cursor to any point on the
screen ranging from to 36 in the horizontal direction, and to
23 in the vertical direction. Remember, vertical locations are
numbered from the top of the screen to the bottom.

The locate command is always used with the print com-
mand to put something on the screen. As a result, the character
printed is actually placed on the screen one location to the right
of the position defined in the LOCATE command. Thus, if you
type the commands:

LOCATE 10.15: PRINT "X"
the X will be located at screen location 11,15. Since locate
permits only very low resolution graphics, we will concentrate
on screen i and 2.

The horizontal (x) and vertical (y) coordinates used with
screen 1 and 2 are the same. X ranges from to 255, and y
ranges from to 191. However, the main graphics command,
pset, illuminates a single pixel on screen 1 and a 4 x 4 block
of pixels on screen 2 . Thus, the effective resolution of screen
1 is 256 x 192, and of screen 2 is 64 x 48.

Draw A Border

You can draw a point anywhere on the screen using the pset
command. Try illuminating the center pixel on the screen using
both screen modes. Here is a program to do this for mode 1.
Change line 10 to screen 2 and see what happens.

10 SCREEN 1

20 PSET (128,96)

30 GOTO 30

Now, how would you draw a line? One way would be to use
a series of pset statements, for example:

204

10 SCREEN 1
20 PSET (1,2
30 PSET
40 PSET
50 PSET
60 PSET

(2, 23)

(3,23)
(4, 23)
C5,:

E10 PSET (60,

620 PSET (61, 23)

630 PSET (62,23)

640 PSET (63,23)

650 GOTO 650

Obviously, this is very inefficient and cumbersome. Consider
this alternative:

10 SCREEN 1

20 FOR X=0 TO 255

30 PSET (X, 23)

40 NEXT X

50 GOTO 50

Now, let us say you want to draw a border. As long as we are
letting X vary from the left to right of the screen, why not draw
two horizontal lines at once, one at the top and one at the bot-
tom? Here is a modification of our previous program to do this:

10 SCREEN 1

20 FOR X=0 TO 255

30 PSET (X, 0)

35 PSET (X, 19:1 )

40 NEXT X

50 GOTO 50

But we would also like to draw vertical borders, too. We can
add two statements to do so. Run this program and see what
happens.

SCREEN 1

FOR X=0 TO 255

PSET (X,0)

PSET (X, 191)

PSET (0, X)

PSET (255, X)

NEXT X

GOTO 50

It works, but the vertical lines finish before the horizontal
ones do. Why? Because, the vertical height of the screen is only

February 1984 Creative Computing

192 pixels, and the width is 256. Thus, we should put a line in
our program to test for values out of range. Renumber your
program using renum 10 and add line 45 to test for vertical
values over 191:

45 IF X> 191 THEN 70

The final program is one of the shortest ways to draw a bor-
der. Remember it and use it when you need a border.

SCREEN 1

FOR X=0 TO 255

PSET <X,0>

PBET (Xf 191)

IF X> 191 THEN 70

PSET C0, X)

PSET C255, X)

NEXT X

GOTO 30

Now, let's try this program with screen 2. It works, but we
can make it run much faster. Remember, each pset lights up a
4x4 pixel block. Hence, we can change our for loop in line 20
to use a step size of four.

On screen mode 2, you can also add color. The third variable
in the PSET statement is color. Most MSX Basic computers give
you a choice of 15 colors. Color 0, transparent, is not really a
color, so realistically your pallette consists of 14 colors. Here is
a program to draw a border in color 2 (medium green).

STEP 4

SCREEN 2

C=2

FOR X=0 TO 255 S

PSET CX,0) ? C

PSET <X, 191 ),C

IP X> 191 THEN 70

PSET (0, X) , C

PSET C255, X), C

NEXT X

GOTO S0

Multiple Borders

In the previous program, instead of having the border print
at the edges of the screen, it is possible to let the non-X value
vary. We will let the distance or increment from the edge of the
screen be I. The value I can be used as the coordinate for the
top and left side, however, the right side must be defined as
255-1 and the bottom as 192-1.

Here is a program that uses these relationships to draw a se-
ries of borders which start at random points in the upper left
quarter of the screen. Note that the test to see if the maximum
y value has been exceeded has changed somewhat. Can you ex-
plain why?

SCREEN 2

OINTC15*RND(l > )

I = INTC92*RND<:i) )

X 2=255- I

Y2=191-I

FOR X-I TO X2 STEP

PSET C X, I ) , C

PSET (X,Y2)fC

IF X2-X<=64 THEN 120

100 PSET (I,X>*C

110

PSET CX2, X), C

12C

1 NEXT X

130

GOTO 20

February 1984 c Creative Computing

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MSX Graphics, continued...

As you run this program, you will notice that many of the
borders do not join correctly in the lower right corner. Why
not? It is because the border may start at any location as de-
fined by the random number function in line 30, but 4 x 4
blocks are being illuminated and the last one may be left off.
There are several ways to correct this. Try to devise at least two
ways.

One way to correct the above problem is to make sure the
random number is a multiple of four. Simply substitute this line
30 for the one in the program, and all will be fine.

30 I=4*INT<:23*=RND<1> )

Bouncing Ball

Let us start with just four statements, one to give us a start-
ing point for the plot of a bouncing ball, one to plot the ball,
and one to repeat the plot.

10 X=S:Y=B
50 SCREEN 2
160 PSET <X,Y)
190 GOTO 1E0

Well, that is certainly a long way from bouncing. We can get
the ball moving with these lines:

20 I=4:J=4
90 X"=X+I
100 Y=Y+J
190 GOTO 90

We are off to a good start, but unfortunately the ball rolls
right off the bottom of the screen. Hence, we must add four if
statements to test for the screen edges. Depending upon the val-
ues in these statements and the starting point of the ball, several
things can happen. Most common is for the plot at some point
to start retracing a previous line. We used trial and error to
choose these values: they are not the only ones that will work to
eliminate line retracing. Try other starting points in line 10 and
screen edge points in lines 1 10 to 140 and see what happens.

110 IF X>=254 THEN I=-I
120 IF X<=1 THEN I=-I
130 IF Y>=192 THEN J=-J
140 IF Y<=1 THEN J=-J

Would you like a ball that changes color? If so, you can add
the following line ISO:

150 C=INT(.15*RNDU>>
160 PSET <X,Y),C

206

You will find that this line slows the program down a good
deal. Another interesting way to get color is to relate it to the x
or y value. Here is a line that works nicely:

150 C=Y/13

While this program produces pretty patterns, it is hardly a
bouncing balj. The problem is that it does not erase the pre-
vious ball position when it draws a new one. On our computer,
these lines will do that. Our computer (a Spectra Video 328)
uses medium blue (color 4) as a background color, so plotting a
point in this color is the same as erasing a point in another
color. The preset command can also be used to erase an illu-
minated pixel or block.

70 C=4

80 PSET <X, Y),C

190 GOTO 70

Now the program works as it ought to. You may find that
the ball moves too fast to be seen. If so, you can put in some
sort of delay after line 160. We have added a few lines to let the
user select a bouncing ball or a continuous line (which pro-
duces the pattern we saw earlier). If you want a sound when the
ball hits the edge of the screen, you can add a beep in lines 1 10
through 140. Here is our final program.

5 DEFINT C, I* Ji X, Y

10 X=2:Y=2

20 1=4: J=4

30 INPUT "Leave trail <:Y or N)"iflt

40 COLOR 15, 15

50 SCREEN 2

70 C=4

80 PSET (X, Y),C

90 X=X+I

100 Y=Y+J

110 IF X>=254 THEN I=-I :BEEP

120 IF X<=1 THEN I=-I :BEEP

130 IF Y>=192 THEN J=-J :BEEP

140 IF Y<=1 THEN J=-J :BEEP

150 C=Y/13

160 PSET (X, Y), C

1S0 IF 0*="Y" OR A*="y" THEN 90

190 GOTO 70

When a trail is left, the plot eventually fills in every other
screen location. How could you modify it to fill in every loca-
tion? There are several ways to accomplish this, some of which
produce more interesting effects than others. Hint: try doing it
with a random variable.

February 1984 c Creative Computing

Output from projectile plotter before cor-
recting for vertical distances being mea-
sured from the top of the screen downward.

Projectile plotter with input angle of 65
degrees.

Projectile plotter with input angle of 78
degrees.

Plot A Projectile

Let's say we want to plot the motion of a projectile from a
gun on the left of the screen to a target on the right. Let's start
by setting the screen mode and plotting a point.

40 SCREEN 1
130 PSET CX,Y)

What point do we plot? From physics, do you remember the
equations for the horizontal and vertical positions of an object
(projectile, ball, arrow, etc.) in the absence of air resistance?

They are:

X = V»cos(a)*t

Y = V*sin(a)*t-'/ 2 *g*t 2

For a complete discussion, turn to any physics book or the
section on projectile motion in Computers in Science and Social
Studies.

The maximum range of a gun is obtained with a firing angle
of 45 degrees. Let's say that the gun has a muzzle velocity (V)
of 1000 feet per second. The acceleration due to gravity (on
Earth) is 32 ft/sec/sec. Then, the time until the projectile re-
turns to Earth is given by the formula:

T = 2»V«sin(a) _ 2«1000«.7Q7 _ 447
g 32

And the maximum range is:

r = Y! = ipopi = 31250

g 32

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February 1984 c Creative Computing

207

MSX Graphics, continued...

Since this will not fit on the screen, we must divide the hori-
zontal distance (31250) by a constant (125). This gives a maxi-
mum horizontal distance of 250 pixels, which fits nicely on the
screen.

On most computers, the distance between horizontal and
vertical pixels is not the same. In other words, if you plotted a
square 100 pixels on a side, it would not actually be square. To
make it square, you have to multiply the vertical distance by
1.2.

We have combined all of the information above and put it
into our program. Try this on your computer.

10 A=45

20 V=1000 sQ-32

30 D=180/3. 1415926K

40 SCREEN 1

50 CX=V*COS<A/D>

E0 cy=v*sin<:a/d>

80 FOR T=0 TO 44. 2 STEP . 2

90 X=CX*T

100 Y=CY*T-1E*T*T

110 X=X/125

120 Y= Y/ 125*1. 2

130 PSET <x,y:>

140 NEXT T

150 GOTO 150

In the program, the variable D is a factor that converts de-
grees into radians, which is what Basic requires. CX and CY
are constants for each firing angle.

What happened when you ran the program? It should work
except the plot is upside down. But of course: vertical distances
on the computer are measured from the top down so we must
make a simple correction:

120 Y=192-CY/ 125*1. 2)

Now, let us modify the program to accept any firing angle
for our gun. You need add only a few lines.

Explosions

Here is a short little routine to produce marvelous multi-
colored explosions. You can easily figure out how it works, but
can you add interesting sounds?

200 CLS

210 «=INT<:i5*RND<:i> )

220 B=INTC15*RND(n )

230 COLOR A,B

240 FOR Z=l TO 10*B:NEXT

250 GOTO 210

Do you really need line 210? Of course not! In fact, the rou-
tine works much better if you simply put in:

210 A=0

Concentric circles with 14 colors.

10 INPUT "Angle of gun"; A
70 T1=2*CY/G

Experiment with this program. Try different firing angles.
Try to tighten up the code and make it faster. Here is one
approach.

10 INPUT "Angle of gun"; A

20 V=1000 :G=32

30 0=180/3. 141592E#

40 SCREEN 1

50 cx=v*c0sca/d>/125
60 cy=v*sin<:a/d:>

70 T1=2*CY/G

60 FOR T=0 TO Tl STEP . 2

90 X=CX*T

1 00 Y=l 92-9. EE-03* <! T* <! CY- 1 E*T ) )

110 PSET <:x,Y)

120 NEXT T

130 GOTO 130

See if you can make this program into a game in which the
player on the left must hit a target on the right.

208

Circles and Targets

MSX Basic has a generalized CIRCLE command built in. By
generalized, we mean that it actually can draw a circle, ellipse,
or arc with any center and any aspect ratio. For now, we will
stick to circles. Let us draw a concentric ring of circles and fill
in each one with a different color.

We will put the center of each circle at the center of the
screen (128,96) and will make each one of the circles 7 pixels
smaller in radius (I) than the preceding one. We will step
through the 14 colors painting each one with a different color.
The program to do this takes only nine lines.

10 SCREEN 1

20 COLOR 1,1,1

30 C=2

40 FOR I =98 TO 1 STEP -7

50 CIRCLE<128,96), I,C

60 PAINT <: 128, 95), C

70 C=C+1

80 NEXT

90 GOTO 90

The next article in this series will discuss plotting various
functions, the Sierpinskey curve, polygons, and spirals. B

February 1984 e Creative Computing

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